
Class„CU 



r ■ ) 



Book 



PHRENOLOGY; 



AXD ITS APPLICATION TO 



EDUCATION, INSANITY, AND PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



BY 

JAMES P. BROWNE, M.D. (Edinb,), 

FORMERLY PUPIL DISSECTOR, TOR LECTURE, TO THE LATE 

DR. JAMES MACARTNEY, 

PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND SURGERY (tRIN. COLL., DUBLIN). 



"It is the harmony of a philosophy in itself which givcth it light and 
credence ; whereas, if it be singled and broken, it will seem more foreign and 
dissonant." — Bacon. . 






LONDON : 
BICKERS & SON, LEICESTER SQUARE, W.C. 

AND AT ETON. 

D. APPLETON & CO., GRAND STREET, NEW YORK. 

1869. 

[The Right of Translation is reserved.} 



21 



LONDON : 

Printed BT W. W. Head, Victoria Peess, 83a, Farringdon Street, EC. 



PREFACE, 



In the following treatise will be found some novel features, 
which are of great moment, both in a physiological and 
psychological point of view. The author would particularly 
invite every one interested in the subject of education to 
scan closely what is said with respect to the faculty of 
intellectual concentration, and the erroneous and misleading 
opinions, in regard to it, which have, hitherto, swayed the 
ablest writers on Phrenology, as well as to what is said 
about the organs of Time, Order, and Eventuality, as 
guides to the proper mode of conducting the education of 
children. He would, also, refer the reader to the essay 
on Hope, as a separate fundamental power, the existence 
of which affords strong assurance of the reality of a future 
life. In furtherance of this there will be seen in the con- 
cluding essay, and elsewhere, palpable evidence to shew 
that this much neglected science is in complete harmony 
with the holy doctrines of the Christian Faith, and that it 
does not at all sanction the doctrine of Materialism and 
Fatali'sm ; for, even in this, it is shewn to be in perfect 
accordance with the Parables of " Holy "Writ." 

He would, in the next place, refer to his views concern- 
ing the true function of the Cerebellum, and to the reasons 



PREFACE. 



and facts adduced in disproof of its being possessed of any 
power at all in directing the action of the voluntary 
muscles, as some great anatomists and experimental physio- 
logists have supposed; and that, therefore, it cannot be 
the seat of volition, as has been suggested. And he shews, 
moreover, that that same organ has no power of control 
over the involuntary movement of the internal organs of 
the body, upon the action of which vitality depends. 

The true source of Volition has, he trusts, been pointed 
out by him, as well as the diversified channels, both mediate 
and immediate, through which its various mandates flow. 

And, moreover, he is impressed with a strong conviction 
that he has found out the cerebral abode of Consciousness, 
and what it is that enables one to form a conception of the 
entity Self. 

And did deep-thinking, learned Casuists but know the 
lucid materials, afforded by the palpable and unvarying 
evidences of the truth of Phrenology, they would not be 
led astray, as to the true nature and source of Conscience, 
or the Moral Sense, by the natural, overruling bias of their 
diversified individual idiosyncrasies. 

The writer of this treatise trusts, therefore, that he is 
not exposing himself to the imputation of undue confidence 
when he presumes to expect that persons of unprejudiced 
minds, who, through a feeling of repugnance, have 
hitherto helped to keep Phrenology outside the pale of the 
legitimate sciences, will conscientiously feel the propriety 
and the necessity of giving it their best consideration, after 
having carefully weighed the vast number of examples he 
has brought forward in confirmation of its claims to a 
distinguished place in the inner Temple of the Positive 
Sciences. 

There is one point connected with the printing of this 



PREFACE. V 

book which the author takes pleasure in mentioning, and 
that is — that the compositor's part was performed, at his 
own request, entirely by females. And it is but just to say 
that proof sheets demanding less correction could hardly 
emanate from the hands of skilful male compositors. The 
quickness and steadiness of these young women would be 
gratifying to those who wish to see the sphere of female 
usefulness extended. 

With regard to the diagrams, the utmost reliance may 
be placed upon their scrupulous accuracy. 



CONTENTS, 





Page 




Pago 


Preface .... 


iii 


Firmness 


256 


Introduction 


ix 


Conscientiousness 


265 


Phrenology and its 




Hope . 


277 


Evidences . 


1 


Marvellousness . 


305 


The Cerebellum and 




Ideality .... 


312 


Amativeness 


24 


Wit 


337 


What is the Source 




Imitation 


367 


of Yolition 


47 


The Intellectual 




Brief Description of 




Faculties . 


381 


the Internal Struc- 




Individuality 


390 


ture of the Cere- 




Form . 


403 


brum or Brain. 


55 


Size . 


410 


Philoprogenitiveness 




Weight, or Sense of 




— Parental Love 


58 


Resistance . 


413 


Inhabitiveness and 




Colour . 


417 


Concentrativeness . 


70 


Locality 


427 


Adhesiveness 


106 


Number . 


437 


Combativeness 


118 


Order . 


444 


Destructiveness . 


141 


Eventuality . 


452 


Secretiveness 


151 


Sense of Time 


481 


Acquisitiveness . 


157 


Tune, or Melody . 


492 


CONSTRUCTIVENESS 


170 


Language 


504 


Self-esteem . 


193 


Comparison . 


538 


Love of Approbation . 


203 


Causality 


549 


Cautiousness 


215 


Alimentiveness . 


562 


Benevolence 


222 


Concluding Chapter . 


570 


Veneration . 


241 






The Diagrams 


AT TI 


[E End of the Book. 





LIST OF DIAGRAMS 

AT THE END OF THE BOOK. 



1.— Sir W. Scott, William Godwin, Right Honourable W. 
Huskisson. 

2. — J. B. Rush, Markwick, Dr. Dodd, George Crabbe. 

3. — Richard Carlile, Lord Eldon, John Adolphtts. 

4. — Robert Owen, Bellingham, Tom Moore. 

5. — Humphrey Duke op Gloucester, Edward II., Patch, 
Goss, Eustache, Hindoo Widow, Madame Gotpried, 
Margaret Nicholson. 

6.— Girl of Genius, Stupid Boy. 

7.— Sestini (Improvisatore), Maunier (an Imbecile). 

8.— Lydiard (an artizan with large No. 3 and no power of 
Concentration), Captain Lyde (large No. 3), Captain 
Lyde's Brother (small No. 3). 

9. — Idiot of Amsterdam, Marline (Parricide), John Clare 
(Northamptonshire Poet), Dr. Gall, Drs. Gall and Dodd, 
(Contrasted), Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

10.— Canova, Napoleon I., Coleridge. 

11.— R. B. Sheridan, Robert Burns, Wordsworth, Steven- 
ton (the Murderer). 



s ? 



TABLE OF PHRENOLOGICAL ORGANS, 



NUMBER AS MASKED IN THE DIAGRAMS. 



No. 

1. — Amativeness. 

2. — Philoprogenitivene ss. 

3. — Inhabitiveness. 

4. — Adhesiveness. 

5-. — oombativeness. 

6. — Destructiveness. 

7. — Secretiveness. 

8. — Acquisitiveness. 

9. — Constbtjctiveness. 
10. — Self-esteem. 
11. — Love op Approbation. 
12. — Cautiousness. 
13. — Benevolence. 
14. — Veneration. 
15. — Firmness. 
16. — Conscientiousness. 
17.— Hope. 
18. — Marvellousness. 



No. 

19. — Ideality. 

20.— Wit. 

21. — Imitation. 

22. — Individuality. 

23.— Form. 

24.— Size. 

25. — "Weight. 

26.— Colour. 

27: — Locality. 

28. — Number. 

29. — Order. 

30. — Eventuality, 

31— Time. 

32. — Melody or Tune. 

33. — Language. 

34. — Comparison. 

35. — Causality. 

36. — Alimentiveness. 



INTRODUCTION 



So intense was the desire at all periods of the world to 
find out the nature of the human mind, and the source of 
its various attributes, that mental philosophy formed a 
theme for the exercise of the talents of the wisest of the 
sages of antiquity. They considered it to be the most 
important subject for the contemplation of man. Some 
of the greatest men of modern times also have given 
special attention to the motives which govern our actions, 
and to the discovery of the source of our mental faculties. 
And the great ethic poet Pope has announced his convic- 
tion of its paramount importance in this fine verse : — 

" The noblest study of mankind is man," 

But in proportion to the utility of correctly fathoming 
the secret springs of human actions was the difficulty of 
exploring the intricate windings of the labyrinth which 
leads to their approach. It was a thorough conviction 
of this difficulty that led Thales the Wise to say that the 
hardest thing was to know oneself. 

That saying of Thales must fail, even now, to create 
any surprise, when we reflect upon the height to which 
he himself, Pythagoras, Democritus, and Aristotle had 
attained in the knowledge of the laws which regulate 
the physical sciences — especially that of the heavenlv 
bodies, as compared with the vague, ill-defined notions 



X INTRODUCTION. 

entertained by themselves, and by all the rest of the 
Greek philosophers, in regard to the connexion between 
the faculties of the mind and the organs of the body. In 
truth, they had no accurate notion of the physical agents 
by which the mind of man is enabled to gain a knowledge 
of substances and their qualities, and of events, with 
their antecedents and probable consequences. And they 
were equally in the dark as to the nature of the means 
used by the Creator for diversifying the human character. 
They knew not how it came to pass that Heraclitus was 
by natural instinct a purely speculative philosopher, and a 
desponding recluse ; while Democritus was an able and 
willing administrator of state affairs, and an indefati- 
gable investigator of the hidden forms of physical things, 
and of the intricacies of their combinations. " Demo- 
critus of Abdera," says Lord Bacon, u was a great 
philosopher, and, if ever any man amongst the Grecians, 
a true naturalist, a surveyor of many countries, but much 
more of nature ; also a diligent searcher into experiments, 
and (as Aristotle objected against him) one that followed 
similitudes more than the laws of arguments." 

Now, of all the researches of this great • naturalist, none 
of them attracted the notice of the men of his time so 
much, perhaps, as his dissections of the human brain. 
To this practice he was led by a conviction that the brain 
was the seat of the soul, or mind. And, doubtless, a man 
of his superior penetration and sagacity could not fail to 
suspect that this abode of the mind must be composed of 
several compartments, each of which forms the residence 
of some special mental faculty. 

Aristotle, who followed him, after a long interval of 
time, was also a great naturalist. He went so far, with 
regard to the constitution of the brain, as to divide 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

it into a few compartments, and assigned to each of them 
distinct functions. Nevertheless, it is quite evident that 
he understood not the means of discerning the cerebral 
features, which rendered reasoning by similitudes a 
marked characteristic of the mind of Democritus ; nor 
those of his own head, which prompted him to use causality 
as a weapon of the most convincing efficacy in argument. 
Neither could he detect in the head of his master, Plato, 
those lineaments of development, beneath which lay the 
sources of the sublime and beautiful sentiments, upon 
which were formed the spiritualised imaginings of his 
glorious intellect. 

But the seemingly tangled clue to this psychological 
mystery, which these greatest of ancient philosophers, 
even with the rich aid of Greek and Egyptian lore, failed 
to unravel, can with ease and certainty be disentangled 
by any one of moderate talents, who shall have given 
the requisite time, industriously and in good faith, to the 
connexion that exists between the faculties of the mind 
and the organs in the brain, according to the doctrine 
enunciated by Grail and his truly philosophic disciple and 
coadjutor Spurzheim. This is a fact, which the following 
treatise is meant to illustrate and confirm. 

In more modern times men of exalted genius arose, 
who have shed enduring lustre upon their respective 
countries by their discoveries in the physical sciences. 
It was by the light which their genius cast through 
the haze that had for so long a period obscured the 
paths through which the planetary systems revolve that 
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes, were enabled 
to point out the right road to future explorers of the 
wonders of the universe, and to clear the way for the 
discoveries of Newton. 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

Lord Bacon, too, that prodigy of nature, has taught us, 
with unique comprehensiveness of mind, the true mode of 
searching after knowledge. "We have," says he, "but 
one method of delivering our sentiments — namely, we 
must bring men to particulars, and their regular series 
and order, and they must for a while renounce their 
notions and begin to form an acquaintance with things." 
Again, he says, " For they seem to have followed only 
probable reasoning, and are hurried in a continued whirl 
of arguments, till by an indiscriminate licence of enquiry, 
they have enervated the strictness of investigation. But 
not one of them has been found of a disposition to dwell 
sufficiently on things themselves and experience." And 
here it is of special importance to take heed of what he 
says in regard to the " seats and domiciles " of the faculties 
of the mind. 

" But the inquisition of this part is of great use, though 
it needeth, as Socrates said, a Dalian diver, being difficult 
and profound. But unto all this knowledge, de communi 
vinculo, of the concordances between the mind and the 
body, that, part of inquiry is most necessary which con- 
sidereth the seats and domiciles which the several faculties 
of the mind do take and occupate in the organs of the 
body, which knowledge hath been attempted, and is 
controverted, and deserveth to be much better inquired. 
For the opinion of Plato, who placed the understanding 
in the brain, animosity, which he did unfitly call anger 
(having a greater mixture with pride), in the heart, 
and concupiscence and sensuality in the liver, deserveth 
not to be despised, but much less to be allowed." 

A difficult and profound subject this self-knowledge 
has been found to be. For though the examination of 
a living frog revealed to the penetrating glance of Harvey 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

the circulation of the blood, and Newton, from seeing an 
apple fall to the earth, is said to have discovered the 
natural law of gravitation, yet to neither of them were 
revealed the laws which govern the functions of the 
human mind. And the vague and contradictory opinions 
held by writers on mental philosophy in regard to the 
nature and number of the primitive faculties of the mind 
(and this their defective nomenclature sufficiently attests) 
afford additional testimony as to the difficulty of the 
subject. This was the necessary consequence of their 
methods of investigation. The ancient sages devoted 
their talents to inquiries respecting the formative process 
of the universe, the principle of life, and the nature of 
the soul. The more modern metaphysicians have given 
their attention to the process by which the mind acquires 
a knowledge of external objects, and the special attributes 
of the faculties through the instrumentality of which man 
is rendered capable of judging of the relationship sub- 
sisting between himself and surrounding things. But the 
foundation upon which they have raised their temple of 
philosophy being unsound, each of them was forced to 
leave his own superstructure in its incompleteness to be 
demolished by some subsequent projector, who, in his turn, 
had the mortification to find his own works thrown 
into the shade by the more lofty productions of another, 
whose reputation, for a season, soared alone in the 
ascendant. Nor are their failures to be wondered at, 
since they searched for knowledge in " the lesser worlds 
of their own minds, and not in the greater, or common 
world." .... "For the human mind," says Bacon, 
il resembles those uneven mirrors which impart their own 
properties to different objects, from which rays are 
emitted, and distort and disfigure them." 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

Notwithstanding these failures, much light has been 
thrown on the science of mind by metaphysicians ; but 
from their acknowledged ignorance of "the seats and 
domiciles, which the several faculties of the mind do take 
and occupate in the organs of the body" their speculations 
are incapable of giving to the moral and intellectual 
powers, according to the measure of their strength and 
to the endless variety of their combinations, such judicious 
direction as would serve to lead individuals to situations 
the best calculated to make them useful and happy 
members of society. 

Their views were too much confined to generalities and 
abstractions. How could they, whilst they looked upon 
perception, memory, imagination, judgment, and will, as 
elementary faculties, and not as modes of action of the 
faculties, ever arrive at a knowledge of the diversities of 
talents and dispositions ? Could they, for instance, by 
such a system of mental philosophy, have formed the 
remotest idea of the cause why Aristides was wise and 
just, and practically forgetful of the sufferings he endured 
from his fickle and ungrateful countrymen ? Why, in 
the like circumstances, the great Marius was selfish, cruel, 
and vindictive ? Whence arose those dispositions which 
rendered Nero and Caracalla monsters in human shape, 
whilst the piety, generosity, and wisdom of Antoninus 
Pius and Marcus Aurelius have gained for them the 
unalloyed admiration of the civilised world ? Could they, 
upon their principles, divine the source of those faculties 
or dispositions which prompted Luther, though only an 
humble friar of the Augustine Order, not only to disobey 
the mandate of the Church of which he was a member, 
but also to endeavour to ruin its credit, and violently, 
though manfully and without disguise, to break into 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

fragments its long revered authority over the nations of 
Christendom ; or account for the source of the sentiments 
which induced Fenelon, a dignitary of that Church, and 
also a man of noble lineage, to submit, without a murmur, 
to a sentence of condemnation, passed upon him for having 
supported theological opinions which were deemed to be 
too deeply imbued with transcendental spiritualism ? Or 
could it be surmised by them or their followers why 
Homer and Dante were great poets ? What were the 
causes of the superiority of Phidias and Appelles, of 
Michael Angelo and of Raphael, in painting and in 
sculpture — why Bacon was the greatest of philosophers, 
whilst his comparatively uneducated countryman and 
contemporary Shakspeare was the greatest of dramatic 
poets ? — why Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven chose to 
enchant the world with music, whilst mathematics 
engaged the attention of Galileo and of Newton, and 
Locke exercised his great powers in an . essay on the 
understanding ? Surely there is no presumption in say- 
ing that their systems of mental philosophy were utterly 
incapable of affording a clue to knowledge so desirable, 
and, necessarily, so indispensable ; especially in regard to 
the early discovery of individual peculiarities of talents 
and dispositions. They must have supposed that every 
one of these great men was, in an eminent degree, 
endowed with perception, memory, imagination, reason, 
and will ; but yet, they could not form any idea of the 
immediate cause of those personal varieties of disposition 
and of talent which rendered it impossible for great 
painters to shine as equally great musicians, or mathe- 
maticians to charm mankind with poetry. 

Yet there were men of great abilities who were inclined 
to think that persons, possessed of extraordinary talents, 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

were capable of excelling in any intellectual pursuit to 
which their attention might be directed. But, did the 
marvellous perceptive powers of Napoleon enable him to 
appreciate and remember harmonious musical combina- 
tions with the same degree of instinctive force with which 
he grasped the various incidents and political phenomena 
which the progress of society was constantly exhibiting, 
or with the ease and precision with which he could solve 
the most intricate arithmetical and geometrical calcula- 
tions ? Bourienne says that Napoleon had but little real 
taste for music. Neither did the great talents of Dr. Gall 
render him a lover or a judge of melody ; and he was a 
very poor numerical calculator. Indeed, it may with 
certainty be averred that the comparative smallness of the 
organ of tune in Napoleon, and the absolute smallness of 
the organ of number in Gall, would render the frequent 
exercise of those faculties an irksome task to both of them. 
Attention has been deemed a primitive mental faculty 
and the source of all knowledge, and certainly without 
attention no thorough and lasting knowledge of any sub- 
ject can possibly be acquired. But a little reflection must 
convince any one that to give attention to any object of 
intellectual pursuit involves the necessity of a strong 
desire to become thoroughly acquainted with it. Now, 
as desire is the result of the action of any of the mental 
faculties, in a high state of activity, and as active 
faculties are always, as shall hereafter be proved, the 
result of organs which are comparatively dominant in 
each individual head, it is irrational to suppose that 
voluntary attention can ever emanate from an ill-developed 
organ. And, as to compulsory attention, it must be 
admitted that it has never yet been productive of excel- 
lence in any art or science ; though the habitual exercise 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

of even weak faculties is sure to strengthen them, and 
will also, by fostering the growth of their respective organs, 
enhance their industry. But, notwithstanding these 
salutary results of compulsory attention, they fall far 
short of the fruitful consequences of that which is 
voluntary. Any one acquainted with the routine of 
schools must be aware of this. In schools that are strictly 
classical, for instance, the desire of approbation will 
urge a boy of good general abilities to devote his atten- 
tion, often with marked ardour, to the Greek and Latin 
languages ; but, if the faculty of language be intrinsically 
Weak, as compared with some of his other powers, he 
will cease to exercise it when the occasion which 
demanded a display of its energies shall have been with- 
drawn ; and voluntarily, ay even instinctively, will give 
his attention to subjects more congenial to the dominant 
bent of his faculties. In a word, voluntary attention is 
the necessary result of the presence of faculties, the organs 
of which are in a high state of development ;, and, on the 
contrary, whenever a faculty is very weak, owing to the 
smallness of its organ, it is an irksome task to fix the 
attention upon the subject which that faculty only is 
capable of appreciating. 

A very remarkable instance of the undeniable truth of 
this law of the mind occurred in the person of Jedediah 
Buxton, a poor illiterate day-labourer. This simple man 
was, perhaps, the most wonderful genius in mental 
arithmetic that ever lived, and yet he was ignorant of 
the ordinary affairs of life. So exclusively active was 
the faculty of numbers in him that, on one occasion, 
while in London, being brought to see Garrick perform 
one of his great characters, instead of directing his un- 
divided attention to the inimitable and captivating acting 



XV111 INTRODUCTION. 

of that superb player, his mind was directed solely to 
the counting of the number of words uttered by Grarrick 
during the play. For, on being asked how he liked the 
actor, he replied that he had spoken a certain number of 
words during the performance, and he stated the number 
with the greatest exactness. 

One other example, confirmatory of the correctness 
of the view which has just been expressed, regarding 
the true basis of attention, will not, I am sure, prove 
uninteresting. Richard Roberts Jones, a sawyer by 
trade, and by birth a Welchman, was a prodigy, as a 
self-taught linguist. He knew from sixteen to twenty 
languages, without having received instruction from any 
one. Yet this poor man could not be induced to give the 
slightest attention to the common occurrences of life, and 
seemed by his habits to be utterly incapable of taking 
care of himself. Mr. Roscoe, of Liverpool, who did every 
thing for his comfort that the warmest benevolence could 
suggest, published an interesting account of this extra- 
ordinary man. When the organ of Eventuality comes to 
be considered, the inattention of these two men to passing 
events will be clearly accounted for. 

Enough has been said to show that the possession of 
one or two faculties, in an eminent degree, does not of 
necessity enable an individual to be successful in any 
calling to which circumstances may induce or compel 
him to direct his attention. 

Some distinguished writers on the mind have attempted 
to maintain that habit and education were principally the 
inciters of individuals in the choice of their pursuits; 
and, further, it has been asserted that they are the source 
of some, at least, of our mental faculties. But, as habit 
implies exercise, and exercise implies the pre-existence of the 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

thing to be exercised, it follows that habit is the effect of 
the presence of a faculty and not its precursor. Neither 
is education the cause of our faculties. Education is the 
drawing out of faculties that are already in existence. It 
develops and strengthens the faculties but cannot originate 
any. 

Yet nothing, indeed, can be truer than the assertion 
that education and habit have much influence in directing 
young persons in the choice of their pursuits : and, for this 
reason, the judicious educator should be careful to learn, 
at an early period, the dominant moral and intellectual 
attributes of his pupils. Supported by this knowledge, he 
will be able to point out the field in which their talents 
may be used profitably, and without irksomeness to them- 
selves. How often, in the absence of such information, 
have talents been fatally misdirected. Yet many men, 
who were incapable of soaring above mediocrity in those 
callings, which education and habit, and the prejudice of 
parents, had prescribed for them, have gained high repu- 
tations by discoveries in science and art, when proper 
opportunities for the exercise of their predominant faculties 
were presented to their minds ! One notable instance of 
this it may be interesting to state. The repugnance of 
Handel's father to his child's indulgence in his passion 
for music is well known. But nothing could repress the 
infant's ardour in pursuit of that charming art. To 
escape his father's vigilance he contrived to conceal a 
clavichord in a garret, where he used to play when the 
family had retired to rest. 

The following case is even more to the point than the 
foregoing. The father of the renowned astronomer Sir 
William Herschel took great pains to render his son an 
accomplished musician. But although the vouth was 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

enthusiastically fond of music, and endeavoured, with 
unremitting ardour, to attain to excellence in that art, 
yet he is not now spoken of in connection with music, 
whilst his fame is scarcely inferior to any man's in 
astronomy, to which his attention was called by a natural 
instinct, which prompted him, even at a late period of life, 
to the practical investigation of the phenomena of that 
noble science whatever hours he could spare from his 
professional musical avocations. 

Such undeniable facts as these are fully capable of 
setting aside for ever the shortsighted theory, which 
attributes the origin of our faculties, or even the capability 
of rendering them efficient, in every case to education and 
habit. 

The promulgation of such untenable opinions by men of 
superior intellectual endowments would certainly be a 
matter to wonder at, did we not feel thoroughly assured, 
through Gall's discovery of the true seats of the mental 
faculties, that their erroneous notions regarding the 
inherent qualities of the living recipient of impressions of 
external things and facts were the cause of their mistake ; 
for, whilst they looked upon the brain, or the " sensorium," 
as being merely, as it were, a u sheet of blank paper " upon 
which all things external are indiscriminately stamped, it 
would naturally follow that education and experience 
should be deemed to be necessary even to the existence of 
the intellectual faculties. But it is obvious, according 
to their views, that this sheet of blank paper can be no 
more than a passive recipient of information, conveyed by 
the external senses, and is consequently unfit, by any active 
inherent power of its own, to seek for some objects of 
study to the absolute exclusion of others. But, surely, 
even the few instances that have been already adduced 



INTRODUCTION. XXI 

will be deemed amply sufficient evidence to show that the 
sensorium, or brain, is intrinsically an active instrument, 
composed of various parts, each of which is possessed 
of a certain kind of power peculiar to itself, which it 
exclusively seeks to gratify. 

Such was the state of obscurity in which mental science 
was doomed to remain until towards the close of the last 
century, when it emerged from the gloom in which it had 
been shrouded for so many ages. This prospect was not 
opened for our contemplation by any of those who had 
spent their lives in fruitless efforts to clear away the mists 
which dimmed their mental vision ; but had its origin in 
the observation of a mere schoolboy, whose singularly 
perspicacious and inquiring mind prompted him to seek 
for the cause why the boy who held the first place for 
proficiency in languages was unable to cope with others 
in mathematics ; and why another, who displayed vast 
capacity for grasping the facts of natural history, made 
but a poor figure in original composition ; why one 
excelled in music and another in drawing ; and from what 
cause proceeded his own inability to find his way to places 
where he had often been, while one of his playmates, who 
was, intellectually, much his inferior in every respect, was 
in the habit of piloting him, and was never known to go 
astray. Having noticed a marked prominence of the eyes 
in those who were endowed with a quick perception and 
a retentive memory of words, and observing the same 
peculiarity in the young men who gained the highest 
prizes at the University for proficiency in languages, he 
was led by his inherent, untutored sagacity to suspect that 
there might be some natural connection between the ex- 
ternal symbol and the presence of the faculty. He now 
seized every available opportunity to observe the forms of 



XXU INTRODUCTION. 

the heads of individuals remarkable for any particular 
talent or disposition ; and took plaster casts of some of 
them. These he examined with the minutest attention, 
but, at first, with little satisfaction ; for, having compared 
the masks of eminent musical composers, he found that 
they differed widely in regard to their general conforma- 
tion. But, after repeated trials, he at length discovered, 
to his great delight, that each of them was characterised 
by a marked protuberance a little above the angle of 
the eyebrow. This extraordinary individual was Francois 
Joseph Gall. He was born at Tienfenbrun, a village in 
the grand duchy of Baden, on March 9, 1758. But, 
though his precocious spirit of inquiry into the probable 
cause of the manifestation of the mental faculties gave 
some slight scintillations of its presence as early as the 
year 1769, it was not till the year 1798 that the first 
written notice of his discoveries appeared in a familiar 
letter to his friend, Baron B,etzer ; although he had given 
lectures on the subject at Vienna two years before that 
date. 

During that long interval he was indefatigable in the 
accumulating of facts, which have since been acknow- 
ledged by men of superior intellects to be unerringly 
confirmatory of the coincidence of peculiar configurations 
of the head and certain animal propensities, moral senti- 
ments, and intellectual faculties. As yet, however, Gall 
was a stranger to the true structure of the brain ; though 
he knew that its external form was fairly represented by 
the scull. But having met with a woman, fifty-four years 
old, with water on the brain, who, nevertheless, possessed 
an active and intelligent mind, he at once conceived the 
idea that the intimate structure of that organ was not 
what anatomists had supposed it to be. From that time 



INTRODUCTION. XX111 

lie gave much attention to the dissection of the brain. In 
this course he was followed and mainly assisted by his 
pupil and fellow-labourer Spurzheim, whose skill and 
singular adroitness in undoing the complicated foldings of 
that exquisitely delicate organ was considered by that 
experienced and able anatomist, the late Mr. Tuson, to 
surpass that of Gall himself. Dr. Macartney, of Trinity 
College, Dublin, used to say, at lecture, that Spurzheim's 
dexterity in dissecting the brain was inimitable, and that 
his method was the only true one. 

The result of these labours was a work published in 
four volumes quarto, on the anatomy of the nervous system 
in general, and of the brain in particular, including the 
functions of the brain and of each of its parts. 

But though the labours of Spurzheim entitle him to the 
gratitude and admiration of those who are thoroughly 
convinced of the truth of the science, to the promulgation 
of which he devoted his life, still he cannot be placed on 
so lofty a pedestal as Gall ; for, had the latter never 
existed, it is not at all likely that we should have heard 
of the true functions of the brain. Gall was the dis- 
coverer of this science, Spurzheim, in some respects, the 
improver. Gall laid the foundation of the philosophic 
edifice, and by his genius and perseverance nearly 
completed the superstructure ; to Spurzheim should be 
awarded the merit of having arranged with greater 
precision each compartment, and also of having added 
something which was indispensable to the perfect sym- 
metry of the whole. It is to him we are indebted, also, 
for its introduction into this country, where he caused 
it to take root, in spite of the efforts of men of great 
talents, some as anatomists, others as metaphysicians, 
some as divines, others as critics, to erase, utterly and 



XXIV INTRODUCTION. 

irretrievably, from the category of the sciences this, 
which is, in the opinion of eminent philosophers, the 
noblest of them all. The qualifications of those antago- 
nists for driving this onslaught to a successful termination 
may be inferred from the candid acknowledgment of one 
of the ablest of them, namely, that " as yet, indeed, he had 
little time to study the subject.'''' At the same time, some 
men of enlightened minds, after having studied its evidences, 
felt the necessity of acquiescing in the truth of its prin- 
ciples ; and amongst them Dr. Vimont, of Caen, is a 
striking example. This able physician was, at first, a 
decided opponent of Gall's doctrine, and, with the view 
of proving its utter groundlessness, spent many years in 
observing the habits of animals, and in examining closely 
how far the forms of their brains bore any accordance 
with their instincts. And what was the issue? A splendid 
work, containing fine lithographic prints of the sculls 
and brains of animals, amounting to a vast number of 
instances, which confirm, beyond a doubt, the accordance 
of the mental attributes of animals with the forms of 
their sculls. 

In the list of those champions of truth, the name of the 
able, benevolent, unassuming Greorge Combe stands first 
among the foremost ; with his high-minded, philosophic 
brother, Dr. A. Combe, by his side. In America, Dr. 
Charles Caldwell overwhelmed all its defamers in a 
style the most vigorous, animated, argumentative, and 
convincing. Mariano Cubi-y-Soler, an admirable lin- 
guist, and one of the most eloquent lecturers I have 
ever heard on any subject, may well be called the 
apostle of Phrenology in Spain, where he had to fight 
the battle of truth single-handed, when cited before the 
legal tribunals. But, after a series of perilous contests, 



INTRODUCTION. XXV 

he came off victorious. In France, Broussais, a renowned 
physician, called the attention of men of science to 
Gall's doctrine in a long and elaborate course of elo- 
quent lectures, confirmatory of its unerring truthfulness. 
Corvisart, whom Napoleon called the only infallible 
physician he had ever known, was, to use the emperor's 
words, "a great abettor of. Grail." And in his latter 
days Cuvier himself gave signs of his leaning to a 
recognition of the truthfulness of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Phrenology. The mentioning of an interesting 
fact illustrative of this change in the opinion of that great 
naturalist will not be deemed irrelevant here. When Gall 
was on the point of dying Cuvier sent him a scull, accom- 
panied by a kind message, saying he thought it bore 
evidence of the correctness of his doctrine respecting the 
functions of the brain. But Gall sent back the scull with 
the following message : " Tell Cuvier that to complete 
my collection there is now only one object wanting, and 
that is my own scull ; which, it is obvious, will, in a very 
little time, form a portion of it." It is evident that the 
manly, independent, and singularly conscientious spirit of 
Gall was then smarting under the conviction that the 
progress of his great discovery, which he knew was cal- 
-culated to hasten the advent of human happiness, had 
been retarded by the undue importance awarded by 
Cuvier to the unstable notions, regarding the functions 
of the brain, which were the result of mutilating experi- 
ments upon the brains of animals ; and by his studiously 
holding himself aloof at a time when even his listening 
with equal attention to what Gall had to show might 
serve to conquer the hostile prejudice of Napoleon, who 
said, according to Las Casas, " I have greatly contributed 
to put down Gall." 

c 



XXVI INTRODUCTION. 

And to Dr. Antomarchi lie said, " Corvisart was a great- 
partisan of Grail ; he praised Mm, protected him, and left 
no stone unturned to push him on to me, but there was 
no sympathy between us." But, when Napoleon's reasons 
for his aversion to Gall's doctrine come to be considered, 
the unstable ground upon which he rests them must 
appear obvious to every one. He says, " Nature does not 
reveal herself by external forms. She hides and does not 
expose her secrets. To pretend to seize and to penetrate 
human character, by so slight an index, is the part of a 
dupe or of an impostor. The only way of knowing our 
fellow creatures is to see them, to associate with them 
frequently, and to submit them to proof. We must study 
them long, if we wish not to be mistaken ; Ave must judge 
of them by their actions ; and even this rule is not infal- 
lible, and must be restricted to the moment when they 
act. . . It is not," he says, " that I pretend to exclude 
the influence of natural dispositions and education ; I 
think, on the contrary, that it is immense ; but beyond 
that, all is system, all is nonsense." Here it is obvious 
that the great intellect of Napoleon was altogether in the 
dark with regard to the true source of those diversified 
tempers of mind which were constantly presenting them- 
selves in action to his commanding powers of conception 
as to peculiarities of character. 

Again he says to Las Casas — " He," meaning Corvisart, 
" and his fellows had a strong leaning to materialism ; it 
would increase their science and their domain. But 
Nature is not so poor ; if she was rude enough to 
announce her meaning by external forms, we should soon 
attain our ends, and we should be more learned. Her 
secrets are finer, more delicate, and more fugitive — 
hitherto they have escaped every one. A little hunch- 



INTRODUCTION. XXV11 

back is a great genius ; a tall and handsome man is often 
a great ninny ; a large head, with a big brain, sometimes 
has not an idea, while a little brain is often in possession 
of vast intelligence. And yet think of the imbecility of 
Gall ; he attributes to certain bumps, dispositions and 
crimes which are not in nature, and which take their 
rise from the conventional arrangements of society. 
What would become of the bump of thieving, if there 
was no property ? of that of ambition if man did not live 
in society ? " But there does exist such a thing as 
property, and there naturally exists a " bump of thieving," 
as he calls it, which prompts us to seek for property, and 
to take care of it. In like manner society exists as the 
necessary result of the promptings of independent primi- 
tive social instincts. And the state called society affords 
scope for the exercise of the " bump of ambition," which, 
according to Dr. Antomarchi, was a leading feature of 
Napoleon's own head. But, as it is certain that, unlike 
Napoleon, some men are never inclined to rule over their 
fellows, and little desirous of outstripping them in the 
race for fame, and as all rational people live in society, 
it cannot be that ambition was at first engendered in the 
womb of society. On the contrary, its germ was im- 
planted by the fiat of the Almighty Creator of all things 
in the human brain, before any owner of that brain could 
have learned to comprehend and appreciate the charms 
and the benefits of society. Society is only the foster- 
mother of ambition. With regard to the tangible facts 
adduced by this great man as instances subversive of 
Gall's doctrine, it may be averred, with the utmost 
confidence, that it is to it, and to it only is due a 
thorough solution of the true bearing of those facts. 
Why, for instance, may a "little hunchback" exhibit 

C 2 



XXV1U INTRODUCTION. 

great genius, while a tall and handsome man is often 
a great ninny ? Gall could say with truth, and distinctly 
indicate, that the genius possessed a head of noble con- 
figuration, while the inferior form of the ninny's denoted 
his intellectual incapacity and the general want of vigour 
of his mind. Had Napoleon seen the capacious and 
finely-formed head of the late Mr. Douglas, who was 
the southern candidate for the Presidentship of the 
United States, in opposition to the lamented Abraham 
Lincoln, and could analyse it according to the natural 
laws enunciated by Gall, he would have at once seen the 
immediate source of that distinguished man's oratory, 
and of his exalted position as a statesman, notwithstand- 
ing the singular smallness and the want of symmetry 
of his figure, which, it would seem, did not reach much 
above the waist of his illustrious, but less intellectually 
gifted, opponent. And as to the oft-recurring mental 
superiority of persons with small heads, and the stupidity 
of others with very large ones, it may be averred that 
Phrenology alone affords the means of demonstrating, 
with certainty, the cause of this seeming anomaly in the 
nature of things, as shall be by-and-bye clearly proved ; 
and it will also be shown that Phrenology is as justly free 
from giving encouragement to the doctrine of materialism, 
in the light it seemed to be viewed by Napoleon, than the 
Christian doctrine itself. 

It is quite obvious, then, judging by Napoleon's 
reported reasons for repudiating Gall's doctrines, that he 
was entirely ignorant of their nature and true bearing, 
and was, therefore, no more a competent witness of their 
intrinsic value than the humblest member of society. He 
used his influence, nevertheless, to extinguish them. For 
Gall says, "At his (Napoleon's) return to Paris, from 



INTRODUCTION. XXXI 

Germany, lie scolded sharply those members of the 
Institute who had shown themselves enthusiastic about 
my new demonstrations. This was the thunder of 
Jupiter overcoming the pigmies. Immediately my 
discoveries became nothing but reveries, charlatanism, 
and absurdities ; and the journals were used as instru- 
ments for throwing ridicule — an all-powerful weapon in 
France — on the self-constituted bumps." Yet, notwith- 
standing all this, "the anatomy and physiology of the 
brain," says Gall, li discovered by the German doctor, 
subsist and will subsist in spite of the efforts of Napoleon, 
and of his imitators, and of all their auxiliary forces." 
And, as this prediction has actually been verified, it is 
pleasing to learn Napoleon's opinion of the results that 
would naturally flow from such a consummation. For he 
says, as has been already noted, " that if Nature was rude 
enough to announce her meaning by external forms, we 
should soon attain our ends, and we should be more 
learned." (See Plate 10.) 

It may be interesting to state here that the plaster 
cast of Napoleon himself, taken some hours after death 
had put an end to his sorrows, exhibits positive organic 
indications of the mighty intellect, which for so many 
years swayed the destinies of nearly the whole of 
Europe. (See Plate 10.) 

It is not with the view of gaining fresh supporters of 
this — the only consistent physiology of the brain, and 
the only system of mental philosophy which is, in the 
least degree, capable of affording a clue by which mankind 
may be led, through the labyrinthine paths of life, to 
the fields best suited to the cultivation and the growth 
of their dominant intellectual and moral instincts, as well 
as to the suppression of such affections as might, by 



XXXli INTRODUCTION. 

as might be of lasting benefit to society. There might be 
pointed out the cause of the difference of style which 
characterised the oratory of Mansfield and of Erskine,. 
of Canning and of Brougham : and that which constituted 
the elements of mind and their combinations, which raised 
Edmund Burke, as a prescient statesman, to a height 
such as neither Pitt, nor Fox, nor even Chatham was 
capable of reaching. There might be seen in Banks' fine 
bust of him, the cause why Warren Hastings, though he 
was endowed with many good qualities which endeared 
him to his friends, was, nevertheless, covetous, self-willed, 
domineering, unjust, and, in some instances, pitiless, as 
Governor- General of India. What a contrast to this did 
the bust of the Marquis of Wellesley, by Nollekens, pre- 
sent. Not only did it indicate that the disposition of that 
distinguished statesman was unimbued with the slightest 
tincture of hypocrisy, avarice, or the love of self-willed, 
domination; but, on the contrary, it was phrenologically 
symbolic of an instinctive carelessness in regard to his 
own pecuniary interests, a disposition which in his case, 
perhaps, amounted to a fault, and which his intellect, 
capacious of great things, and comparatively heedless of 
whatever is little, was ill- calculated to redress. There 
might be seen in Behnes Burlowe's bust of Macintosh 
indications of the vastness of his intellect, and the un- 
obtrusive gentleness of his disposition ; whilst Chantrey's 
exquisite bust of Lord Castlereagh afforded marked indi- 
cations of his having been endowed with courage the 
most heroic, unalloyed by the slightest tinge of complec- 
tional fear, and with an intellect well balanced, devising, 
and industrious, but certainly narrow in its range as 
compared with that of Sir J. Macintosh. There, too, 
might be seen the true physical indications of the imper- ■ 



INTRODUCTION. 



and warm susceptibility of Canning. 

Amongst the sculls of birds how readily could the 
practised observer distinguish the scull of the tuneful, 
melodious canary from that of the chirping, inharmonious 
sparrow. Nor could he fail to mark the constant differ- 
ence between the form of the head of the song thrush 
and that of the jackdaw ; or to discern how the cuckoo's 
head is hollow where the organ of the love of offspring is 
located, whilst the same part presents a striking pro- 
tuberance in the partridge. In the dolphin, the porpoise, 
the seal, and many other animals, the male could there be 
distinguished from the female by the form of the back 
part of the scull, where the same organ lies. Nor could 
any one fail to mark the form of head that is the in- 
variable, and evidently indispensable, concomitant of the 
ferocious and sanguinary temper of the tiger, as well as 
the strong contrast which it presents to the scull of the 
wild but gentle gazelle. How superior also the elevated 
brain of the poodle dog, when compared with that of the 
indocile, snarling cur ! Tims in animals of the same 
species the most marked disparity of form is easily dis- 
cernible, on comparing the sculls of such as are docile and 
gentle, with those of the dull and intractable. The eleva- 
tion of the one and the depression of the other are obvious. 

In an ethnological point of view that collection was 
very valuable. "What a striking contrast was presented 
there by the rounded form of the skull of the fierce, 
indomitable American Indian, who is so averse to inter- 
course with strangers, and the rather narrow, elongated 
head of the indolent negro, who is devoted to social 
enjoyments. How wide was the difference between the 
head of the Sandwich Islander or of the Tahitian and that 



XXXIV INTEODUCTION. 

of the Australian or the Tasmanian. How much superior 
to either of them were the heads of the civilised Incas of 
Peru, which had not been submitted to the distorting 
process of artificial compression. Neither could the wide 
disparity between the Maori and the Gentoo escape the 
notice of the most careless observer. And how immea- 
surably inferior in form were they all to the noble 
head, which is the issue of the mingling of the Celtic, 
Saxon, and Norman races (imbued with an infusion of 
old Roman blood), such as it is found to be in these 
islands, and in the United States. 

Perhaps it may not be considered out of place if I 
relate a circumstance of considerable interest to those 
who make it a point to make strict inquiry as to the 
amount of knowledge which certain races are capable of 
imbibing. 

Some twenty years ago and more, when the great 
anatomist, Tiedemann, was in London, he paid a visit to 
De Ville's Phrenological Museum. I saw him as he 
.entered the place. He was erect and tall, with an air 
somewhat stately, yet perfectly unassuming. His head 
was not so remarkable for great size as for its fine 
symmetry, and the organs of the moral and intellectual 
portions of it were in a rare degree harmoniously blended. 
It was the characteristic head of a curious, indefatigable, 
conscientious inquirer into the arcana of physical things 
—one who was not given to indulge in unprofitable, 
visionary speculations. His visit to De Ville being 
strictly private, there was no opportunity afforded me 
of hearing his remarks. But, afterwards, it was told 
me by De Ville himself, that Tiedemann supposed (and 
in this he resembled all other opponents of Phrenology) 
that because he had tested the capacity of a great many 



INTRODUCTION. XXXV 

negro and European skulls, by filling them with millet 
seed, and found that, on an average, those of the Africans 
were scarcely inferior in size to the skulls of Europeans — 
that from that fact he thought it probable that the 
negro, if placed in advantageous circumstances, ought to 
be capable of exhibiting powers of mind equal to the 
European. 

But when the humble, self-educated follower of Gall 
demonstrated to this celebrated physiologist and anato- 
mist that the forehead of the negro is usually much smaller 
than that of the European, and that, moreover, its form, 
with few exceptions, is irregular and ill-balanced; and 
when he showed that the size of the negro scull in the 
basilar portion, where the organs of the affections (which 
we possess in common with the lower animals) lie, was, 
in proportion to the upper and anterior parts, which are 
the seats of the moral and intellectual faculties, larger in 
the negro than in the European — when De Ville showed, 
by many instances, that this is always and infallibly the 
case (with the exception of the heads of criminals), 
Tiedemann raised his hands and said, " The labour of 
years is now, I clearly see, of no use to me ; and I must 
destroy many valuable things bearing upon this theme." 
Thus, by following the true mode of investigating this 
department of natural history, was an uneducated man, 
of good talents, enabled to correct a mistake in anatomy 
and physiology committed by one of the ablest anatomists 
that Europe has given birth to. 

For the long term of twenty-two years the writer of 
this treatise took every opportunity, afforded him by the 
kindness of its generous owner, to study the contents of 
this rare collection ; and, after having studied it with 
assiduous care, he is bound to say that out of the 



XXXVI INTKODUCTION. 

hundred thousand facts winch it contained, not one could 
be pointed out that did not testify to the never-failing 
agreement of particular parts or organs of the brain with 
certain independent, elementary faculties, according to the; 
laws discovered by Gall. 

It is with the view of demonstrating the stability and 
unchangeableness of those laws that the composition of 
this treatise has been undertaken; in order to excite in 
its regard such a degree of attention as will tend to 
awaken it from the state of inauspicious somnolency in 
which it has for some years lain prostrate. But, strongly 
impressed with a conviction of the importance of the 
subject, and fully alive to the difficulty of treating it, 
the writer cannot help being crossed by fears for the 
success of this attempt. Belying, however, upon the 
solidity of the foundation upon which his subject rests,, 
and surveying the vast store of accumulated materials 
which have, for more than thirty years, been constantly 
passing through his hands, and the facts which are now 
strewn before him in whatever society he may be placed, 
he would fain hope that even his humble abilities will 
enable him to make such a selection of incontrovertible 
facts as will place beyond a doubt the possibility of deter- 
mining the innate talents and dispositions of any one by 
making a skilful survey of the head ; and, should he succeed 
in merely raising a more general spirit of active inquiry 
in regard to the nature of the evidence adduced, and the 
deductions drawn from it by phrenologists, than at present 
exists, he will have reaped a fair reward for his eiforts, 
for he has long been thoroughly convinced that a strict and 
faithful examination of the facts which bear upon the case- 
is alone requisite for converting the incredulous scoifer 
into the zealous advocate. 



INTRODUCTION. XXXV11 

It may be well, even here, to advert to its undeniable 
superiority over all other systems of mental philosophy, 
in regard to the materials it affords for the accurate 
analysis of the faculties. Even opponents cannot help 
admitting that it illumines with the noon-day brightness 
vof reality the uncertain twilight by which the specula- 
tions of metaphysicians had for ages been obscured. But 
how trifling does even that great advantage seem when 
it is compared with its great practical usefulness ; for, in 
the event of its becoming generally studied, its truthful- 
ness cannot fail to impart a conviction of the advantages 
which society will reap from a careful and enlightened 
application of the principles of Phrenology to the various 
purposes of life. 

Hereafter, when Phrenology shall be acknowledged by 
all to be a science founded upon a practical observance of 
the true principles of induction, what happy results are 
sure to follow from the proper application of its laws, for 
the purpose of finding out at once the distinctive talents 
and dispositions of any child that may be entrusted to the 

■ care of a teacher ! The educator of high mental endow- 
ments, but ignorant of the practical bearings of this 
science, can form no adequate notion of the happiness 
he would be enabled to confer upon his pupils through 
its means. He would see the injucliciousness of confining 
for several years to the study of the dead languages a 
youth whose moderate capacity for acquiring a knowledge 
of them rendered their study an irksome labour, which 
nothing but compulsion could induce him to undergo ; 
whilst, at the same time, the rich germ of genius for 
natural history in the same boy is kept under restraint 
at the most impressible time of life, when, by judicious 

straining, it might be made to bloom in all the perfection § 



XXXV111 INTRODUCTION. 

which nature intended it to wear. Again, the mathe- 
matical teacher will call the boy a dunce who displays no 
talent for geometry, but who might be capable, neverthe- 
less, of becoming an ornament to literature or the fine 
arts, if his instructors had the power of discerning in time 
the field where his peculiar talents might be exercised and 
disciplined to most advantage. How often have parents 
had to bewail the precious time that had been misspent in 
this way, and the sums of money lavished in the vain 
hope of seeing a beloved child, at some future day, become 
eminent in the profession they have chosen for him. But 
it is not in the misdirection of the intellectual faculties 
that the paramount mischief lies. It is the injury to 
which the moral nature is subjected, by pursuing such a 
course, which renders it imperative on parents and tutors 
to endeavour to obtain, as early as possible, a thorough 
knowledge of the moral and intellectual aptitudes of 
children. : 

Let us, for instance, picture to ourselves a high-minded, 
generous youth, ambitious of distinction, being subjected 
to the taunts and harsh treatment of the guardian of his 
education, because of his inability to master some branch 
of literature or science which is deemed indispensable to 
the completion of his studies. What anguish will he 
not suffer when openly accused of wilful idleness, or, of 
that which may be even more wounding to his self- 
respect, mental imbecility! Whereas, if his talents had 
been judiciously evolved, he might become an ornament 
to society, and, may be, the benefactor of his species. 
Numerous instances might be adduced in proof of the 
soundness of this opinion, but it will be enough to remind 
the reader that Swift and Goldsmith were strikingly 
t unsuccessful at college, especially in mathematics ; and 



INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 

that John Hunter was incapable of shining as a classical 
scholar. Had the latter been doomed to exhaust his 
strong intellect and untiring industry in the daily exercise 
of the occupation at first allotted to him, he might 
probably have become an excellent artisan, but the great 
anatomist and physiologist would be lost to the world. 

If we weigh but for a moment the ill effects of com- 
pelling young persons to spend their time in studying any 
subject for which they possess but slight capacity, and 
of the injustice of punishing them for want of proper 
industry in the pursuit of it, it must be obvious that by 
such an irrational procedure there is set an example of 
tyrannical hard-heartedness at a time of life when the 
minds of those entrusted to the care of teachers are 
most susceptible of indelible impressions. And thus is 
produced an estrangement, amounting in many cases to a 
feeling bordering on aversion, between master and scholar, 
whose great aim it should be mutually to cultivate the 
sweet and ennobling sentiments of reverence and love. 
Hence the temper becomes soured, and the unsocial 
passions by degrees assume a mastery over the charming 
sentiment of benevolence, within the silken bonds of 
which all the other attributes of our nature should be 
everlastingly intertwined. Indeed, it should be carefully 
borne in mind that, whenever we attempt to maintain 
authority by habitually exciting fear in the minds of 
our pupils, we are unwittingly laying the foundation of 
duplicity and distrust, until at length that salutary caution, 
which is the instinctive parent of circumspection, forms 
an imhallowed alliance with deceit. 

How important it is, therefore, for teachers to acquire 
an early knowledge of the dispositions and talents of 
their pupils ; and what a blessing it is to know that such 



id INTRODUCTION. 

knowledge may be attained, even in the first meeting, 
hj any one possessing competent skill as a practical 
phrenologist. That such is the fact will, it is hoped, be 
clearly established, even to demonstration, in the course 
of the following treatise. 



PHRENOLOGY AND ITS EVIDENCES. 



Phrenology may truly be looked upon as a science that 
consists of countless, unvarying facts concerning mind, 
upon which general principles have been incontrovertibly 
established. But it is not the nature of the mind itself 
with which students of this new system of mental philo- 
sophy have to deal. Of the mind's essence man cannot 
ever attain to any knowledge. That is entirely out of the 
sphere of his understanding. Yet he is impelled to have 
implicit faith in its separate existence by a powerful, 
persuasive, and consoling internal monitor, which is not 
of the understanding. It is the faculties of the mind 
and the physical agent, which is found to be absolutely 
indispensable to their manifestation, that lie within the 
wide scope of phrenological enquiry. 

This science rests on three fundamental principles. The 
first of these is that the brain is the true and sole organ 
of the mind. The second principle is that the brain con- 
sists of a congeries of organs, each of which is the seat of 
some special faculty of the mind. And the third — that 
size of brain is a criterion whereby the measure of mental 
power may be duly appreciated, all other conditions being 
equal (see Plate 9). 

That the mind cannot manifest its faculties in this life 
without a brain is clearly demonstrable. A heavy blow 

D 



2 PHEENOLOGY 

on the head in an instant deprives a man of conscious- 
ness. Too great a quantity of spirituous liquors taken 
into the stomach directly affects the brain, by means of the 
great pneumogastric nerve, and thus causes for a time the 
suspension of sense and reason. The delirium of fever is 
the result of a too abundant distribution of blood through 
this, the most complicated and delicate in structure of all 
the bodily organs. Long continued and excessive mental 
labour often destroys the constitution of the brain. Have 
not the vast intellectual and moral energies of O'Connell, 
and the fertile genius of Walter Scott, faded away under 
the influence of softening of the brain ? To the same cause 
is to be assigned the loss of memory and general weakness 
of intellect which clouded the last years of the life of that 
most exquisite of all lyric poets, Thomas Moore. It was 
the enfeebling influence of fourscore years and ten that 
reduced to a state of comparative childishness the " huge 
mind " of William Cunningham Plunket — an orator, 
not only of the first class, but, in the opinion of the best 
judges of oratory, the greatest of all his cotemporaries. It 
was a diseased state of the brain that gave occasion for 
the following lines, which are so sorrowful and so 
affecting — 

" From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow, 
And Swift expires a driveller and show." 

If, then, either derangement of the mental faculties, or 
their partial or total suspension, depends upon a morbid 
condition of the brain, it is reasonable to conclude that 
the brain alone is the organ of the mind. Indeed, 
nothing but thoughtless prejudice could prompt any one 
to deny this — the first fundamental principle of Phren- 
ology. And yet, strange to say, men of talent and 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 6 

education have been found to deny the truth of it, because, 
say they, we have no consciousness of the brain being 
concerned in the operations of the mind. A more futile 
objection could not be hazarded. Are we conscious that 
the liver secretes bile, or the stomach the gastric juice, 
which converts the food into the life-sustaining chyme, or 
the action of the pancreas, while it is eliminating the fluid 
which serves to change the chyme into the still more 
vivifying chyle ? Yet these organs are always in a state 
of activity. 

It being proved, then, that the brain is the sole organ 
of the mind, are we, therefore, to conclude that it is but a 
single organ ? Anatomy, physiology, and pathology afford 
undeniable evidence of the fallaciousness of such a notion. 
It is utterly irreconcilable with the laws of nature, which 
are in themselves invariably consistent. 

To prove the truthfulness of this — the second funda- 
mental principle of Phrenology — conclusive evidence may 
be obtained by searching into the conditions under which 
monomania presents itself. And, after pursuing such a 
course of inquiry, it would be a matter of astonishment if 
any one could hesitate to admit that the brain consists of 
a number of organs which are quite distinct from one 
another : for the brain of a monomaniac is found to be 
disorganised in its structure, so far, at least, as the eye 
can discern, only at that part of it which is proved by 
Phrenology to be the organ of the unsound faculty. 
Evidence confirmatory of this fact shall be adduced when 
the special mental faculties come to be considered. 

Another interesting source of enlightenment in regard 
to the certain existence of a plurality of organs in the 
brain is afforded by children of precocious genius. Zarah 
Colbourn, Bidder, Noakes, and others astonished the 

d 2 



4 PHRENOLOGY 

most able mathematicians by the surprising rapidity and 
accuracy" of their arithmetical calculations. The " Infant 
Lyra," when only six months old, is said to have been 
disagreeably affected by discordant music, and delighted 
with harmonious sounds. At the age of three or four 
years she charmed the public by her seraphic perform- 
ance of her own extemporaneous compositions on the 
Irish Harp. And there lived in the last century, at the 
village of Wargrove, in Berkshire, a fool, of the name 
of Jack Fletcher, who could repeat nearly every word of a 
sermon after having once heard it. Here we have simple, 
isolated rays of genius illumining the general incapacity 
of childhood, and shining even through the mists of 
imbecility. 

It may not be premature to state here that these extra- 
ordinary faculties were, in the above-mentioned cases, 
accompanied by a singularly large development of those 
parts of the head which are, according to Phrenology, the 
organs of those faculties. 

After this brief but conclusive exposition it is hardly 
necessary to take any notice of certain objections made by 
some anatomists, as to the dividing of the brain into a 
congeries of organs, each of which exercises its own 
peculiar function, exclusively. They have thought that 
this assumed fact cannot be sustained, because the 
apparently homogeneous structure of the medullary 
substance of the brain offers a satisfactory refutation of 
Gall's doctrine. 

This shortsighted objection is for ever set aside by the 
facts that the spinal marrow, or cord, is composed of 
anterior and posterior columns, which are, respectively, 
the transmitters of sensation and of voluntary motion to 
and from the brain ; and that neither column can perform 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. D 

the function of the other. The experiments of Sir C. 
Bell and Mayo, in this country, and of Majendie, in 
France, have long ago demonstrated that such is the 
case. And yet no naked eye can discern any difference 
of structure in the columns of the spinal marrow. Can 
any one, after such analogical evidence, presume now to 
deny that the brain, like the spinal marrow, is capable of 
performing functions which differ intrinsically from one 
another ; although it is beyond our power to trace any 
distinction in the material composition of its diversified 
organs ? Neither can the eye discern any difference of 
structure between the optic and auditory nerves. And 
there is no structural diversity to be seen in the sen- 
sitive portion of the fifth pair of nerves, although one 
portion of it becomes expanded into nerves of ordinary 
sensation, while the other is the nerve of the sense of 
taste. 

But though no difference of structure is discernible in 
the various parts of the brain, to which is ascribed a 
diversity of functions, it would be unreasonable to suppose 
that no such discrepancy exists. Nay, it is absolutely 
necessary that such should be the case, for it would be 
contrary to the unvarying laws of nature that conflicting 
mental affections, whether moral or intellectual, could 
possibly emanate from organs in which no structural 
difference exists. Could malignancy and charitableness 
be ministered to by the same part of the brain ? Or could 
open-handed, self-denying benevolence ever admit of its 
being cooped up in the cold and cheerless cell of grasping, 
shivering avarice? Could the elements of cowardice and 
courage find a fitting domicile in the same part of the 
brain ? As well might it be imagined that the nerve of 
seeing could do the office of the nerve of hearing, as 



6 PHRENOLOGY 

that hope and fear, gentleness and ferocity, could be the 
offspring of a single organ. 

The next point to be considered is, whether size of brain 
be a true measure of mental power, all other conditions 
being equal. Can there be any doubt that this law 
regarding size is found to exist unchangeably all through 
nature ? A deal plank, two inches thick, will support 
more weight than another from the same tree which is only 
half its bulk ; but it will not resist such an amount of 
force as a piece of oak of similar form and calibre is 
capable of doing. Here the conditions are not equal, and 
accordingly the results are not alike. A ball of iron and 
one of lead may be the same size, but how different their 
capacity for resisting pressure. It holds thus with the 
brain as with everything else. Take, for instance, two 
heads equal in size, and nearly resembling each other in 
form, at least in all their salient points, and the prevailing 
bias of the mind will be found to be the same in both ; 
but the active efficiency of one of them will be superior 
to that of the other, if its possessor be endowed with a 
temperament of greater refinement and intensity. If, 
then, temperament heightens the structural quality of 
the brain, a small head, with a high temperament, would 
display more mental energy than a large one of the same 
form, which is constitutionally sluggish : just as the close, 
compact structure of the oak plank renders it much 
stronger than the deal one, with its comparatively loose 
fibres, or as a half-inch iron rod is capable of sustaining 
more pressure without bending than a soft and malleable 
lead one of the same or even of larger dimensions. More- 
over, there may be two heads, each containing the same 
quantity of brain, with the same temperament, and yet their 
capacity, either for thought or action, or for both, shall differ 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. ( 

to a vast extent. One may be eminently intellectual and 
gentle, the other impetuous and bold, but incapable of 
shining in any occupation demanding considerable talents. 
The fine busts of the late Duke of York and the Marquis 
of Wellesley, by Nollekens, present heads nearly equal in 
size, but how opposite in form ! The first is indicative of 
heroic courage and a spirit of determination, sometimes 
amounting to obstinacy, but it was the obstinacy of an 
incautious, unreflecting man, and not the offspring of a 
self-willed, overbearing disposition. In the other, there 
is a truly noble development of the forehead, where 
the organs of the intellectual powers are located, which 
denotes talents capable of managing important affairs, 
the great moving principles of which his comprehensive 
mind could readily embrace, and judiciously apply to the 
effectual fulfilment of his object. Yet it would seem to 
be a mind which would find it irksome to give attention 
for any length of time to detached individualities. And 
though its possessor was neither obstinate, turbulent, nor 
inclined to be contentious, he would be fearless in the 
discharge of his duty. On phrenological principles, the 
intellect of the Marquis should be active, industrious, 
persevering, comprehensive, concentrated ; that of the 
Royal Duke, incomprehensive, unconcentrated, uncircum- 
spect, and indolent, as regards the higher attributes of the 
intellect. In difficult emergencies a man endowed with 
such a head would be apt to lean too much upon the 
opinion and discretion of others. 

To warn those who are beginning the study of 
Phrenology against the fallacy of imagining that large 
heads must necessarily possess more mental capacity than 
smaller ones, it will be well to adduce one instance more 
that will not be deemed uninteresting. 



8 PHRENOLOGY 

The head of the late Joseph Hume was immensely 
large, and he certainly displayed great energy, as well as 
indomitable perseverance and firmness of purpose, which 
no pressure from without could subdue. These charac- 
teristics were in perfect accordance with the salient 
features of his head. He possessed a strong and assiduous 
intellect ; but it was more capable of grasping statis- 
tical details than of comprehending enlarged general 
principles, either in science or in politics. And this 
peculiarity of intellect is exactly such as would strike 
the mind of a skilful practical phrenologist as belonging 
to a forehead shaped like his. The head of Lord 
Brougham, on the contrary, was not a particularly large 
one. Certainly, it was not nearly so large as Mr. 
Hume's. Brougham's forehead might be deemed even 
less expanded than it was by persons ignorant of the 
principles of Phrenology. Comparisons like this have 
been, again and again, raised as fatal stumbling-blocks 
in the path of those who were conscientiously pursuing 
the study of this noble science. But its faithful students 
must not be scared away from the pursuit by a phantom, 
conjured up by those who have, avowedly, totally 
neglected to seek for an intimate knowledge of its 
fundamental laws, and who were, therefore, incapable 
of truly estimating its palpable confirmative evidences. 
How, then, is the vast superiority of Brougham's in- 
tellect to be accounted for ? It arises from the harmo- 
nious manner in which all the organs of the intellectual 
faculties were balanced and blended together in the 
forehead of that extraordinary man. For this rare 
equalisation of organs is always accompanied by a 
capacity for arranging with preciseness the various 
intellectual faculties, and of concentrating their energies 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 



upon any subject that comes within the range of their 
powers of comprehension. Now, this balance of power 
did not characterise the organs of Joseph Hume's fore- 
head. He possessed some of the intellectual organs in 
a high state of development, and these were indicative 
of the kind of talent manifested by him in his laborious 
and successful career. But he was comparatively weak 
in those parts which, wmen amply developed, produce 
logical precision in oral or written discourses, while his 
unflagging industry in the investigation of subjects, 
lying within the somewhat contracted sphere of his 
useful faculties, has seldom been equalled. His per- 
severance and unswerving stedfastness of purpose were 
indomitable. It is also a recorded fact that the region 
of the head wherein the organs of these mental attributes 
lie is protuberant in the cast of the head of this honest 
reformer. 

But though a head of moderate size will be often found 
to manifest much more energy and talent than a large 
one, owing to the superior symmetry of its proportions, 
there is a measure of size above which the human head 
must reach before its possessor can take his stand as 
the qualified associate of rational beings. Idiotcy is the 
invariable concomitant of a head that measures only 
sixteen inches in circumference. Indeed, I have never 
seen nor heard of an adult's head under nineteen inches in 
circumference which was not that of a congenital idiot. 
The smallest head belonging to a rational being ever 
measured by myself was only twenty inches and a quarter. 
It' was the head of a young lady of superior talents, whose 
reasoning powers were of a high order. She was capable 
of writing with considerable effect, especially on theo- 
logical subjects. This head was very narrow just above 



10 PHRENOLOGY 

the ears, and it was also very small at the back part ; 
but it was high and well filled out at the top. The 
forehead was broad, and high, and prominent to a re- 
markable degree, and it was, moreover, harmoniously 
balanced. To judge by the temperament the structure 
of the brain was of the finest quality. It is in the 
active, bustling, impelling attributes of the mind that 
this lady would evince a deficiency of vigour, owing 
to the smallness of the animal region of the head. 

It is safe, therefore, to conclude that a head might 
exist resembling this in every respect, except that the 
forehead may be somewhat smaller, but still large enough 
for the exhibition of some talent; and that thus might 
be found an individual with a head even under twenty 
inches, capable of performing the ordinary duties of 
life in a rational manner. 

The instinctive sagacity of some animals, and the 
vigour of their affections, are concomitants of very small 
brains. But there is this difference between them and 
the small brains of idiots, namely, that the quality of 
an animal's brain is perfect, and its form exactly adapted 
to the manifestation of the desires of the creature, while 
the structure of the idiot's brain is lamentably imperfect, 
and its form defective. 

It would seem, however, to be a universal fact, in 
regard to the human race, that an adult's head much 
less in circumference than twenty inches is, according 
to our present experience, certain to be abnormal in 
shape and ill-organised as to the structure of the brain. 

May not this constant association of the excessive small- 
ness of the head and the imperfect organisation of the 
substance of the brain, in the case of idiots, be considered 
tantamount to a proof that a brain of so diminutive a 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 11 

calibre, be it ever so finely organised, would, notwith- 
standing, be altogether inadequate to the due performance 
of the complicated affairs of life ; or, at least, that no 
approach to excellence could be attained by any one so 
scantily endowed with the instrument of the moral, 
religious, and intellectual faculties ? There are heads 
of adults even below the measure of nineteen inches. 
The head of the Amsterdam idiot, at the age of twenty- 
five years, was only sixteen inches round (see Plate 9). 
Another, at Cork, at the age of seventeen, was only seven- 
teen inches ; and the heads of three or four adult French 
idiots were about the same size. There was an idiot in 
St. Martin's Workhouse, London, whose head measured 
nearly nineteen inches ; and here we may recognise the 
advantage of its nearer approach to the size of the head 
in an adult requisite for the proper manifestation of the 
acuities of the mind. This poor creature could feed him- 
self; and, moreover, he evinced a sense of any kindness 
used towards him by smiling, as it were, from a feeling of 
thankfulness. The idiot of Amsterdam could not feed 
himself, nor did he seem to be moved by any one of the 
human affections. Congenital idiots, like these, some- 
times have a large development of some one organ or 
another, and this is attended with occasional emotions of 
great intensity. It may here be observed that the diver- 
sified character of these affections are entirely in accord- 
ance with the laws of Phrenology. And this, again, is a 
proof that the brain consists of a congeries of organs, each 
of which is capable of acting by itself, and of its own 
accord ; although almost all our thoughts and doings are, 
undoubtedly, dependent on the mutual influence of several 
faculties. 

With regard to the average size of the adult male head, 



12 PHRENOLOGY 

the result of a vast number of measurements shows that 
it does not exceed twenty-two inches in circumference. 
A head of such dimension, with an active temperament, 
is capable of displaying great mental energy ; but the 
direction which that energy shall take will depend upon 
the development of specific organs, and their special com- 
binations, which are as various as the diversified talents 
and tempers of men. 

It must not, therefore, be supposed for a moment that a 
head which falls below this average must, of consequence, 
be inferior in mental power to one that may happen to be 
much larger. Indeed, the heads of some of the greatest 
geniuses of modern times are very little above twenty-two 
inches in circumference. The original cast of Sir Walter 
Scott's head is twenty-two inches and a half. That of 
Crabbe is twenty-two and three-quarters, and Byron's 
hat, according to Colonel Napier's statement, was remark- 
ably small ; and Leigh Hunt says Shelly's hat was a small 
one. The cast of Fuseli, the painter, measures twenty- 
two inches and an eighth ; and the posthumous cast from 
the shaved head of the great continuator and extender 
of Newton's " Principia," Laplace, is no more than 
twenty-two inches round. But the frontal portion of it 
is singularly wide, and it is exceedingly large at the 
region of Order and Number. 

Here, then, is the head of one of the greatest mathe- 
maticians of any age or country, which does scarcely 
reach, in general bulk, the ordinary average standard of 
size. Still it indicates only the presence of partial 
mental power. It was wholly intellectual : for the regions 
of the propelling and commanding passions were very 
moderately developed. And it is not within the sphere 
of probability that a man, possessing a head of that size, 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 13 

with so predominating a frontal region, could ever muster 
up sufficient force of character to curb the genius of 
revolution in its tumultuous progress, and direct its 
future movements according to his will. Such a man 
was Oliver Cromwell, such was Napoleon Bonaparte, 
and it is certain that both of them had large heads. Yet 
not so large, perhaps, as the heads of many men, by no 
means distinguished for mental superiority. The head 
of Blomfield Rush, the daring murderer of the Jermy 
family, was as large as Cuvier's, or Rammohun Roy's, 
or Spurzheim's, each of which was very large, or as that 
of Mr. Markwick, with which it is contrasted in Plate 2, 
— a man, the nobleness of whose mind is noticed under 
the head of Inhabitiveness. But how opposite to the 
tranquil course of their dispositions were the channels 
through which the turbulent energies of that ferocious 
man w T ere directed ! What system of mental philosophy 
but that of Grail and Spurzheim can enable us to explain 
the cause of such marked diversities of character? 

It was, for instance, the rare combination of singularly 
powerful organs, both of the intellectual faculties and 
of those of the propelling passions, stimulated by ex- 
orbitant love of power, that rendered those wonderful 
men, Croimvell and Napoleon, the conquering spirits of 
their times (see Plate 10). And it was the great defi- 
ciency of the region of the moral sentiments in Rush's 
head that rendered him a recipient of the spirit of 
wickedness which found a fitting habitation in the organs 
of the inferior animal propensities, that were in his head 
of great magnitude. In the heads of Cuvier, Rammohun 
Roy, Markwick, and Spurzheim, indications of a totally 
opposite character were conspicuous. 

Do not all these antagonistic instances clearly show 



14 PHRENOLOGY 

that superior size of brain is a sure sign of mental power, 
all other conditions being equal, but that the power 
differs in kind, according to the local position of the 
predominant organs ? And, although numerous cases 
have already been mentioned which prove that men with 
heads of moderate size are capable of evincing great 
genius and mental energy, it is, nevertheless, right to 
state, as a crowning testimony of that fact, that the 
scull of one of the greatest and most original of philo- 
sophers, Descartes, measured no more than twenty inches 
and six-eighths. Now, allowing one inch and an eight] 1 , 
or one and a quarter, for the presence of the integuments 
(a fact which many comparative measurements have 
enabled me to certify), the head of this great genius 
would measure in circumference, in his lifetime, not 
more than twenty-two inches. But his forehead was 
very fine. Yet it was specially and even surprisingly 
indicative, as was Laplace's, of a genius for geometry 
of the highest kind. The fine portrait of him, engraved 
by Edelinck, is a singularly striking phrenological attes- 
tation of this. But neither the scull nor the portrait is 
symbolic of his having possessed equal superiority of 
genius, as an explorer of the labyrinthine regions of 
metaphysics. And what Lord Brougham said of Des- 
cartes is in perfect accordance with the characteristic 
development of the forehead of that great man. " He 
is," says that most competent of judges, " the true author 
of all the modern discoveries of mathematics. He made 
the greatest step that ever man made since the discovery 
of algebra, which is lost in the obscurity of remote ages. 
I mean his application of algebra to geometry, the source 
of all that is most valuable and sublime in the stricter 
sciences and in natural philosophy. But assuredly his 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 15 

physical and psychological speculations are much less 
happy ; although it was no mean fame to be the author of 
a treatise, the answer to which was the first work ever 
composed by man — Newton's " Principia." 

All nature, then, proclaims the truthfulness of the 
third general principle of Phrenology. But it is a thing 
to be regretted that the indiscriminate use of the terms 
" above and below the average size," when applied to 
particular heads, has given rise to much misconception 
as to the real tenets of this science, and has led some 
men, distinguished for high attainments in the paths of 
literature and of science, to oppose its diffusion, when 
they found that their own heads barely reached the medium 
standard, while men of poor abilities are often endowed 
with very large ones. But surely the notable cases of 
Descartes and Laplace must set aside for ever such pre- 
mature objections, however plausible they may have 
appeared at first sight, when general development only 
was regarded, while that which was particular and 
specific was overlooked. For it should be remembered 
that it is the relative size of the different regions, or the 
three grand divisions of the brain of each individual, and 
not only of the regions themselves, but of the organs 
of which those regions are composed, which alone affords 
a criterion whereby the true principles of Phrenology, 
as a science and as an art, capable of being practically 
used in the analysis and delineation of character, can be 
tested and judged. 

It is presumed that conclusive evidence has been 
adduced already to prove that the brain, which is un- 
doubtedly the organ of the mind, is composed of several 
distinct parts or organs, each of which enjoys its own 
peculiar function. By-and-bye evidence the most palpable 



16 PHRENOLOGY 

shall be brought forward to show that these organs 
amount to a certain number ; and, moreover, that that 
number accords exactly with the number of the primitive 
fundamental faculties of the mind. Not such faculties,' 
however, as the conjectural hypothesis of metaphysicians 
would impose upon us as being fundamental, but such 
as the demonstrable science, bequeathed to the world by 
the genius of Gall, enables any one of ordinary talent to 
discern and to estimate, not only in their individual 
qualities, but likewise in all their harmonious coherency. 
And it may, with the utmost correctness, be averred 
that the constant sympathy which exists between certain 
organic combinations and certain ideal associations should 
be regarded as conclusive evidence of the soundness of 
the foundation upon which Gall has raised this admirable 
system of mental philosophy; for, as Bacon has wisely 
said, " It is the harmony of a philosophy that gives it 
light and credence." 

Why is it that this luminous, transparent picture of 
the faculties of the mind and their special organs in 
the brain had, before the advent of Gall, eluded the pene- 
trating minds of the greatest philosophers both of ancient 
and modern times ? For some of them were equal, others 
possibly superior, to Gall in comprehensiveness of intellect 
and zeal to acquire knowledge. Yet there is not one of 
them all, from Democritus, Aristotle, and Plato, whose 
attention was practically directed to that end, that did not 
fail to descry this glorious picture. Hence it cannot 
fairly be questioned that they all fell short in the display 
of that rare perspicacity of intellect, manifested by Gall, 
in discerning and exposing to the open light of day the 
true sources of diversified mental phenomena, which lay 
so long concealed behind the mystic veil of metaphysics, 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 17 

and which he was, even in his childhood, led to investi- 
gate, through an ardent thirst, amounting to an imperious 
instinct, to make himself acquainted with the cause of the 
diversities of dispositions and talents. But, setting aside 
all personal comparison as to superiority of understanding, 
it cannot be denied that the various and often antagonistic 
opinions entertained by speculative metaphysicians, in 
regard to the mind and its faculties, are unsatisfactory ; 
because, unlike Gall's, theirs are for the most part, at least 
the issue of their own individual mental idiosyncracies. 
For, while Grail drew his materials for the construction 
of the true physiology of the brain from the wide domain 
of animate nature, where all things are palpable and 
consistent, they were employed in delineating the " Idols 
of the Den." And truly did Lord Bacon judge, when he 
said — " There is no small difference between the idols of 
the human mind and the ideas of the divine mind, that is 
to say, between certain idle dogmas, and the real stamp 
and impressions of created objects, as they are found in 
nature." 

Driven from their strongholds, which they vainly looked 
upon as impregnable, by the well-served artillery of un- 
erring facts, some scientific opponents of Phrenology took 
shelter in a redoubt, and to that they clung with perse- 
vering tenacity. "The scull," they said, "does not 
exactly represent the shape of the brain within it ; and, 
therefore, the phrenologist is precluded from forming a 
just estimate of character by an inspection of the head, 
even though the fundamental principles of the science 
were fomided on the natural laws." 

A more futile objection than this could not be hazarded, 
for the scull, as every physiological anatomist knows full 
well, grows, pari 'passu, with the brain, and adheres to it 



18 PHRENOLOGY 

throughout with as much exactness as the plaster mould 
does to the bust within it ; and when the brain is healthy- 
there is scarcely any observable inequality in the thickness 
of the scull. Just over the root of the nose, indeed, there 
occurs sometimes a separation of the outward and inward 
plates of the bone, which is called the frontal sinus. 

Now there are some writers who think that this sinus is 
a fatal obstacle in the path of the student of Phrenology. 
But, in their zeal to quench the only light capable of 
guiding mankind through the intricate paths that lead to 
the temple of mental philosophy, they have missed their 
mark by asserting that the prominence of the bony ridge 
of the eyebrow is not, as phrenologists have assumed it to 
be, a true criterion of tne existence or non-existence of 
this frontal sinus, since it was found by Sir William 
Hamilton, the eminent writer on mental philosophy, after 
an extensive examination of sculls in the museum of the 
University of Edinburgh, that the sinus was quite as 
strongly marked in sculls which were flat across the brow, 
as it was in those wherein the prominence of the same 
part was conspicuous. 

Now what does this last fact, as given by a highly 
intellectual opponent, tend to prove? The very reverse 
of what it was intended to show. It shows that the pre- 
sence of this sinus offers no real obstruction to our form- 
ing a right estimate of the allowance to be made as to 
the real extent of cerebral development at that part of 
the brain which lies behind the sinus, whether the brow 
be projecting or not. 

But is it true that this sinus always exists in the adult 
scull? Spurzheim averred that, in all his experience 
in the opening of sculls and dissecting of brains, he had 
never found this frontal sinus existing before the age 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 19 

of thirty-five years. In the scull of Lord Byron, who 
died at the age of thirty-six, there was not the slightest 
ajmearance of a sinus. 

But as it is certain that these gleanings from the 
dissecting room, from which Sir W. Hamilton drew 
his inferences as to the constant presence of this 
sinus, were the sculls of persons of mean condition, 
and consequently of uncultivated understandings, it 
would follow, according to the natural laws of the 
growth and diminution of parts, that the intellectual 
portion of the brain in persons of their hmnble station 
must, in a long course of years, have become reduced in 
size, on account of its comparative inaction. And it 
is highly probable that the sculls here alluded to belonged 
to poor persons far advanced in life; for the dissecting 
room is not furnished with the remains of persons of 
good station and education. 

Now, as the inner plate of the scull must necessarily 
be in contact with the surface of the brain, when no 
morbid substance intervenes, the falling away of the 
brain by means of the absorbent vessels, as a natural 
consequence of its inactivity, must be followed by the 
secretion of bony matter from the blood through the 
action of the secernent vessels. And this bony matter, 
being deposited on the inner surface only, gradually pro- 
duces, in the course of years, that separation of the inner 
and outward plates of the scull which has been designated 
the frontal sinus. And why is it that no sinus ever exists 
in the sculls of those who die in childhood or in early 
manhood? It is because the rapid increase of the brain 
in early life, caused by the deposition of cerebral substance 
through the secernent vessels, renders more room neces- 
sary, and as the hard bony case cannot yield to the soft 

E2 



20 PHRENOLOGY 

growing matter within it in the ordinary way, there exists 
a tissue of absorbent vessels which, by means of a won- 
derful instinct, are forced, even by the soft pressure of 
that cerebral matter, to remove, to a certain extent, the 
interior surface of the scull, in order to give place to the 
growing brain. 

But as this incessant absorption of bone continues for 
many years, and as there occurs during that period of' 
time a great perceptible increase in the size of the head, 
it is obvious that the scull, which in childhood is not 
above an eighth-of-an-inch in thickness, would be 
entirely absorbed if it were not for the action of the- 
secernent vessels, which are, at the same time, deposit- 
ing ossific matter on the outside of the absorbed parts 
so far as to make amends for the removal of it from 
the inside by the action of the absorbents. 

Such is the living procedure which prevents the forma- 
tion of the frontal sinus in the sculls of children, and 
even in those of adults in the prime of life ; and which, 
on the other hand, causes its presence when life is in 
its decline. 

With regard to this latter fact, the cases brought to 
light by Sir William Hamilton, in which the sinus was 
at least as extensive in sculls that were characterized 
by a striking flatness of the brow, as in those where 
great prominence was manifest, it is only what the- 
laws of Phrenology would lead those who have carefully 
studied them to anticipate. For example, the organs 
that are affected by the sinus are those which bring 
us acquainted with substantive external objects and some 
of their qualities. Now it happens to be an invariable 
law of nature that, when life's prime is past, the nearer 
we approach the goal of our existence the more we- 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 21 

become uninfluenced by the promptings of curiosity. 
We become less observant, and the memory of what 
-we really do notice is far less tenacious than it was 
formerly. And this is owing to the brain having be- 
come shrunken in the region which consists of those 
organs. 

Now as all organs are, ceteris paribus, active in 
proportion to their size, it follows that the greater 
the prominence of the parts in question the longer 
will their tendency to continuous energetic action be 
sustained ; and, consequently, the later should be the 
existence of this sinus. 

So far, therefore, is this discovery by Sir William 
Hamilton from affording that eminent psychological 
, philosopher any grounds for his determination to era- 
dicate from the minds of thinking persons all confidence 
in the doctrine of Gall — so far is it from affording a 
warrant for such a conclusion, that it is, on the con- 
trary, a palpable fact in corroboration of its truthfulness. 
And the averment of Spurzheim, that this sinus never 
makes its appearance before the age of thirty-five, shews 
that no valid objection can exist, on this score, to the 
practical applicability of Phrenology to the elucidation 
■ of the special talents and dispositions of children. And, 
surely, the power which this science imparts, of instantly 
making known to parents and teachers the mental 
characteristics of children, must be of the highest value, 
since it teaches how precept, training, and example may 
be used to the best advantage; for these never fail to 
make a deep and lasting impression on the imitative 
instincts of childhood. Neither does the objection, as 
regards the sinus, hold good against its power of afford- 
ing a correct monitor in advising even adults as to the 



22 PHRENOLOGY 

kind of occupation that is most suitable to their indivi- 
dual capacities. Nor does it, at any age, prevent us 
from using the head as a beacon to warn us to avoid 
the society of treacherous and dishonest persons. Nor 
can it, in the least degree, mar the direct salutary in- 
fluence of Phrenology in the classification and cure of 
insane persons, and in the management of criminals 
(see Plate 7). 

Having proved by irrefragable evidences that the brain, 
is the organ through which the faculties of the mind are 
made manifest in this world, and that, moreover, it is, in, 
fact, as in reason it must necessarily be, composed of a 
congeries of organs, each of which is capable of perform- 
ing a part that is entirely distinct from the function of 
any of the others; and having also demonstrated that size 
of brain is a true criterion of power, all other conditions 
being equal, and that the direction of that power is 
dependent upon special configurations of the brain, which 
are as various as the inherent mental qualities of men 
with which they are reciprocally accordant — having shown 
that these fundamental general laws of Phrenology are 
true to nature, I will now proceed with the analysis of the 
several individual faculties, and at the same time de- 
monstrate, by means of well authenticated instances of 
a most interesting and instructive description, the position 
of their organs. And, as the superficial form of the scull 
is proved to be a correct representation of the brain within 
it, there can be no difficulty in forming a just estimate 
of the relative magnitude of any organ. 

It is well to state here briefly that the brain consists of 
two parts which are technically denominated cerebrum 
and cerebellum. The cerebrum fills the scull with the * 
exception of that part of it which lies across its • base ? , 



AND ITS EVIDENCES. 23 

just over the nape of the neck. It is here that the 
cerebellum is located. There is also within the precincts 
of the base of the scull that body called medulla oblongata, 
which is composed of the primary bundles of medullary 
and cineritious, or white and grey substance, which, by a 
continual aggregation of these substances, caused by an 
abounding circulation of blood through the minutest 
fibres of this sensitive and delicate structure, ultimately 
become developed under the form of the cerebrum, or 
greater brain, and the cerebellum, or little brain. This 
medulla oblongata crowns the spinal cord like the capital 
of a pillar. It is the point in which the flame of life is 
most readily quenched, for it is in it that the roots of those 
nerves, upon which the continuance of animal life depends, 
are concentrated. It is into the substance of the hinder- 
most portion of this body that the nerves upon which the 
will or volition can exercise no control have been traced 
to their source. It is necessary to bear this in mind, in 
order the more readily to comprehend and duly appreciate 
the following effort at rooting out, from the category of 
physiological truths, the notions entertained by every one 
of those distinguished anatomists and philosophers who 
have repudiated Gall's discovery in regard to the true 
function of the cerebellum. This is the subject that shall 
first call for the reader's attention, in compliance with the 
practice of every one who has written on Phrenology. 



THE CEREBELLUM AND ITS TRUE 
FUNCTION-AMATIVENESS. 



When it was ordained that a man should forsake father 
and mother and cling to his wife, who was, but a little 
while previously, a stranger to him, there was implanted 
within him a propensity powerful enough to draw the 
affections into channels differing from those through 
which they were from early infancy accustomed to flow ; 
but still without causing a lessening of love for the 
familiar objects of old, affectionate, and reverential attach- 
ments. This instinct forms the principal ingredient of 
the mixed passion called Love. It renders man, in an 
especial manner, susceptible of the influence of the beauty 
and grace so liberally bestowed on the fairest portion of 
humanity. It is this feeling, when acting in harmony 
with predominating benevolence, warm attachment^ 
respectfulness, and conscientiousness, heightened by a 
good endowment of ideality, or the sense of the beau- 
tiful, that imparts so much enthusiasm and unselfish 
devotedness to the loves of the sexes, and spreads such 
enduring charms over the domestic fireside. And these 
sentiments, when chastened by the presence of pure 
religious aspirations, render mankind ready, instinctively 



AMATIVENESS. 25 

and voluntarily, to entwine themselves for life within the 
bonds of wedlock. Happy are they in this state of union 
whose dispositions harmonise with one another ; but bitter 
woe is often the lot of those high-minded persons who 
are bound for life to consort with the ill-disposed and the 
selfish; for this propensity, when left to riot uncontrolled 
by the moral sentiments and foresight, has been, in all 
ages, the fertile and ungovernable source of the bitterest 
misery and heart-burning in private life, while some of 
the direst calamities that have ever afflicted society have 
arisen from unhallowed submission to its imperious 
cravings. 

It was an unholy attachment like this for young 
Roger Mortimer that caused the accomplished and high- 
born Isabella of France to conspire with that able and 
ambitious man, not only to deprive her weak-minded 
husband and king of his throne, but even of his life. 
And so lost to shame did she become that, when the 
young Edward with his guards had surprised her and 
her paramour in the castle of Nottingham, and seized 
Mortimer, she rushed from the chamber where she had 
lain concealed, into the presence of her exasperated 
son, exclaiming — " Fair son, spare my gentle Mortimer ! " 
It was the impetuous craving of this passion that rendered 
the heart of Henry VIII. callous to the pleadings of pity 
which must have acted occasionally, even in him, as an 
internal monitor, to warn him of the remorseless cruelty 
of his conduct. And, in his case, it was also the first 
ostensible cause of the greatest ecclesiastical revolution 
recorded in history. It was the enchanting fascination of 
Cleopatra, the beauteous syren of the Nile, that caused 
Mark Antony to let slip heedlessly from his grasp the sceptre 
of half the world. Through the influence of this absorbing 



26 AMATIVENESS. 

instinct even the great mind of his master, Julius Csesar s . 
succumbed for a season to the captivating charms of the 
same enchantress. But, not like Antony, Caius Julius 
was endowed with — 

" An immortal instinct that redeemed 
The frailties of a heart so soft, yet bold, 
Alcides with a distaff now he seemed 
At Cleopatra's feet ; and now himself he beamed 
And came and saw and conquered." 

It was submission to the unruly dictates of this passion 
that brought Priam's powerful kingdom to destruction — 
an event which afforded a theme for the exercise of 
Homer's transcendent genius. 

Since love engages our thoughts in the morning of 
life with greater intensity than other affections, young 
persons should be careful as to the manner in which it 
is likely to influence them ; for its first incentive, being 
a strong animal instinct, should be guided by those 
refining moral and religious motives, which mankind, 
alone, of all sublunary living things, has been formed, 
to enjoy. " The passion called Love," says Edmund 
Burke, " has so general and powerful an influence ; it 
makes so much of the entertainment, and indeed so 
much the occupation of that part of life which decides 
the character for ever, that the mode and the principles 
on which it engages the sympathy, and strikes the 
imagination, become of the utmost importance to the 
morals and manners of every society." 

When the paramount influence of this fundamental 
animal instinct is correctly weighed in the balance of 
the mental faculties it follows, as a fixed law of nature, 
that there must exist a part of the brain which is. 



AMATIVENESS. 2T 

specially devoted to its manifestation. And, as the 
organs of the strongest faculties are the largest, so do 
we find that the organ of Amativeness is the largest of 
them all. 

It would not at all accord with the spirit of this book 
to narrate the facts which established in the capacious and 
conscientiously scrutinizing minds of Gall and Spurzheim 
a thorough conviction that the propensity, now under 
consideration, has the cerebellum for its organ. Never- 
theless it may not be improper to adduce a few remarkable 
examples, which warrant the really investigating disciples 
of Dr. Gall in their corroboration, without doubt or hesi- 
tation, of his opinion as to the true function of the 
cerebellum. 

But some physiologists have asserted that the cere- 
bellum is always in uniform proportion, as to size, with 
the cerebrum. Now, if this assertion were borne out by 
facts, it is clear that Gall's view would be untenable, for 
men with large heads would, according to that view be, 
ceteris paribus, necessarily more under the influence of 
the amatory propensity than persons with small heads. 
But it is certain that this is by no means the case. And 
as many of the most distinguished anatomists and physi- 
ologists concur in supposing that the cerebellum is the 
director or regulator of muscular motion, and the pre- 
server of equilibrium, it would follow here also that an 
individual with a large head could exercise these functions 
with more precision and neatness than any one with a 
small head — size being always {ceteris paribus) an indica- 
tion of power. Surely this state of things cannot exist 
in the domain of nature ; for if this assumed balance of 
quantity were an invariable fact, we should expect to 
find the glorious singer and actor, Lablache, capable of 



28 AMATIVENESS. 

surpassing in gracefulness of attitude and well-poised 
steps the incomparable dancer, Taglioni. Another able 
writer on physiology, Mr. Alexander Walker, endeavoured 
to prove that the cerebellum is the organ of volition. 
And certainly there is a close identity between volition 
and the faculty of regulating and directing muscular 
motion. But here again it may be positively averred that 
large heads are not necessarily accompanied by superior 
force of will or volition. 

Before these conjectures respecting the function of the 
cerebellum come to be considered it will be well to advert 
to the supposed constancy of relative proportion between 
the cerebrum and the cerebellum. 

It is indeed matter of surprise to find men of superior 
intellects and attainments taking for granted, in so im- 
portant a phenomenon, without investigation, what others 
have hazardously propounded, when a wide field lay open 
before themselves, wherein materials for setting their 
minds right as to the real state of the case are always to 
be found. 

Let any one, for instance, compare Bartolini's bust of 
Lord Byron with that of Samuel Rogers in the Ken- 
sington Museum, and he will see that, although the head 
of Eogers is much larger, the cerebellum in Byron's head 
is twice as big. Or let the bust of Rogers be contrasted 
with that of Lord Lyndhurst by Behnes, in the same 
gallery, and it must be acknowledged that the cerebellum 
is, in proportion to the cerebrum, not only absolutely but 
relatively many degrees larger in the head of the re- 
nowned orator and lawyer than in that of the refined 
and unsensual poet. And how considerable the difference 
between the busts of Thomas Moore and Chantrey's fine 
characteristic bust of Wordsworth ! A mere glance at 



AMATIVENESS. 29 

the easts from nature of the virtuous poet Crabbe and of 
the unhappy but incorrigibly sensual Dr. Dodd (see Plates 
3 and 4) must convince any one that, although their heads 
are pretty equal in size, but totally different in shape, the 
cerebellum in the cast of Dodd's head is extremely large 
in proportion to the rest of the head; and that it is of 
moderate bulk both absolutely and relatively in the cast 
of Crabbe. In the very large head of Spurzheim the 
cerebellum is of very moderate size, while it is remark- 
ably large in the sensual culprit Rush (see Plate 2). In 
the fine lofty head of the Chevalier Neukom, the musical 
composer, the cerebellum is rather small, whilst it is ex- 
cessively large in the much smaller head of the savage 
murderer, Mrs. Manning, and in Greenacre, the covetous 
and deceitful slayer of the woman whom he vowed to 
marry. Indeed, the absolute size of the cerebellum in 
criminals, and its relative predominance in bulk over the 
moral and intellectual organs, are striking characteristics 
of the heads of these outcasts of society. And surely 
it cannot be supposed that these degraded persons are 
possessed of superior capability for the directing and 
regulating of the movements of the voluntary muscle's 
of the body and limbs with more precision and graceful- 
ness than those in whose heads that organ does not form 
a characteristic feature. 

Indeed, anatomy, physiology, and pathology afford 
conclusive evidence to show that the cerebellum cannot be 
the regulator of voluntary muscular motion, as Rolando, 
Floureus, and others have imagined; nor the focus of 
sensibility, as Foville thought, in order the better to 
account for its power as a director and regulator ot 
voluntary motion. 

This last conjecture does certainly seem a plausible 



30 AMATIVENESS. 

one, for it would appear necessary to experience a sensa- 
tion of the contact of an object, or a perception of its 
presence through the sense of sight, before the will could 
have an adequate incentive to put any set of muscles in 
motion. And the following case affords an interesting 
illustration of the probable correctness of this opinion. 

During the professorship of that original thinker and 
accomplished physiologist and pathologist, the late Dr. 
James Macartney, at Trinity College, Dublin, and while 
I was engaged, as his pupil, in dissecting and preparing 
a subject suitable for his next anatomical lecture, in his 
own private room, it was announced that one of the 
college porters was waiting in the museum to consult 
him. 

The malady of this man consisted of complete loss of 
sensibility in the right hand, while the power of moving 
the fingers according to his will remained. He could 
even grasp the hand of any one, though his hold had but 
little force. But though he could seize and hold objects, 
it required attention on his part to keep them from 
dropping involuntarily from his hand, so this power of 
holding was of little use to him. 

It is obvious that if this man were to place his hand 
accidentally upon any object in the dark he could not be 
prompted by any internal monitor, such as volition or 
will, to take hold of the thing, or to thrust it out of his 
way, though it should be an obstruction to his movements. 
And does not this case of itself show, even without the 
support of Sir C. Bell's discovery of the diverse functions 
of the anterior and posterior columns of the spinal cord, 
that the centres of sensibility are quite distinct from those 
of voluntary motion ? But it also shows that these 
two centres are so closely connected, that any failure in 



AMATIVENESS. 31 

the healthy functions of either of them effectually mars 
the healthful action of the other. 

But though Foville is right in conjecturing, with 
others, what Gall had long before seen, that the cerebrum 
is the central source of voluntary motion, there is the 
most conclusive evidence to prove that he is wrong in 
thinking that the cerebellum is the central point of con- 
vergence of the sensations, which give rise to voluntary 
motion. Neither can it be deemed the source of those 
^motions that take place without consciousness. 

For instance, there appeared, many years ago, in one 
•of the hospitals of Paris, a child born at the usual time of 
gestation. This child lived for three days. During that 
time it had power to move about its arms and legs ; 
and when the nipple, or its substitute, was put to its 
lips, it evidently was affected by the object ; and when 
placed in its mouth it sucked in the milk in the natural 
way. But though it possessed this power it did not 
manifest that instinctive volition with which new-born 
infants, whose brains are in a normal condition, turn 
to the mother's breast. For it did not seem to desire 
food if left to itself; and though there is ground for 
thinking that it derived pleasurable sensations from the 
sense of taste, it is evident that it did not experience any 
consciousness of the traces of pleasurable sensations, for 
it made no volmitary efforts to renew them. 

Now, both the lobes of the brain were entirely wanting 
in this acephalous foetus (for thus such imperfect children 
are named), and there was no trace of the cerebellum to 
be found. The cerebellum cannot, therefore, be the 
central point of the convergence of sensation, as Foville 
thought, for in this child there existed sensation, and 
also that nervous irritability which was the occasion 



32 AMATIVENESS. 

of the involuntary movements of its legs and arms, 
as well as the power of maintaining, during its brief 
existence, the natural action of the stomach, heart, 
and lungs, over which the will or volition exercises 
no control whatever. Now, since these organs were 
capable of performing the functions necessary to the 
preservation of life, even for the short space of three 
days, it is evident that the cerebellum cannot be the 
true source of that power which regulates and preserves 
the function of respiration and the active powers of the 
muscles of the heart, and other vital organs; as well 
as the energies of the minutest capillary arteries, which 
are the immediate unconscious ministers to the growth 
of all the tissues of the body; and of the equally delicate- 
absorbent vessels, which serve to remove effete parts, 
in order to make way for new deposits of similar structure ; 
and of that living force which renders the liver, spleen, 
and kidneys capable of using their marvellous secreting 
powers apart from the influence or control of the will. 
Neither can these functions be ascribed to the cerebrum 
itself, for in this instance that body was also absent. 

But though this case affords conclusive evidence of the 
palpable truth of the inferences here deduced from it, it 
yet remains to be shown that the cerebellum is not a 
central point for the convergence of sensations which 
are indispensable to the regular action of the voluntary 
muscles ; for in this imperfectly organised being the 
movement of its limbs and lips were manifestly not the 
result of volition, neither did they seem to be under the 
regulating control of any of its organs. Are we, there- 
fore, to assume that the fact of the cerebellum being 
entirely wanting in this instance is not a disproof of the 
idea that upon it depends the power of regulating and 



AMATIVENESS. 33 

directing the actions of the voluntary muscles, and of 
preserving their equilibrium ? The fallacy of such a 
conclusion is proved to demonstration by the following 
singular case. 

In the summer of 1841, when the late Phrenological 
Association was assembled at the great room of the 
Society of Arts, in the Adelphi, Dr. Elliotson exhibited 
the cerebellum of a gelding which was entirely converted 
into bone. This anatomical preparation was lent to that 
distinguished physician, and enlightened supporter of 
Gall's doctrine, by the late eminent lecturer on veterinary 
surgery, Mr. Yuatt, who at the same time assured Dr. 
Elliotson that this horse had never shown any want of 
power to direct and regulate his movements, but that 
he walked, trotted, and galloped like other horses, and 
manifested no unsteadiness in his gait, though his action 
was somewhat sluggish. The two eminent names, con- 
nected with the first announcement of this very singular 
case, are authorities sufficient to remove all question as to 
its authenticity. Can it, then, be denied that this is a 
case calculated to set aside for ever the notion that the 
function of the cerebellum consists of the power of regu- 
lating and directing the actions of voluntary muscles, 
and of enabling an animal to preserve its equilibrium? 
Neither can the cerebellum be deemed the centre of 
general sensation, as Foville thought, for this animal 
was not at all wanting in that faculty. 

And surely, in the face of a fact like that just now 
narrated, it cannot justly be thought that that organ is 
the central seat of the nervous energy, which sustains the 
workings of the interior organs of the body, upon which 
the continuance of life, even for a moment, depends, and 
over which the will can use no control. Yet this opinion 

F 



34 AMATIVENESS. 

was entertained by Swedenborg, and supported by all the 
force and originality of his genius, because he was led by 
the writings of celebrated anatomists to a conviction that 
the pneumogastric nerve, called vagus, from its widespread 
wanderings, had its source in the cerebellum. And, 
certainly, there was ample ground, apparently, for his 
belief; for this nerve issues, on each side, from the 
medulla oblongata at the place where the oval ganglion 
of grey substance called, from its shape, the olivary body, 
lies in apposition with the restiform, or rope-shaped body, 
which comes directly from the very hindermost column of 
the spinal cord, with which it is continuous, and then 
passes into the centre of the cerebellum. But though 
Spurzheim says, in his " Anatomy of the Brain," that the 
primary filaments of this great nerve are more closely 
connected with the cerebellum than with the olivary body, 
and though that original thinker and careful experimenter, 
Mayo, in his folio work on the anatomy of the human 
brain, with its singularly beautiful plates, says that the 
pneumogastric nerve is seen to spring from the restiform 
body, it is yet certain, judging by the sure result of 
Mayo's own dissection, that this great pneumogastric 
nerve has not its source in the corpus restiforme, or 
inferior pedicle of the cerebellum. For he says that its 
filaments may be traced into the substance of that body, 
" and followed through it to the grey matter at the back 
of the medulla oblongata." As well, then, might the 
trigeminal nerve be supposed to have its source in the 
pons varolii, or commissure of the two lobes of the 
cerebellum, because its filaments seem to arise from it. 
But no anatomist now harbours such an opinion as that. 
And, surely, the relation of the pneumogastric nerve to 
the restiform bodies is, in all respects, analogous to that 



AMATIVENESS. 35 

-which the superficial fibres of the pons varolii hold to the 
filaments of the great trigeminal nerve on their passage 
from the grey substance in the posterior parts of the 
medulla oblongata, which really is the source from whence 
they spring. 

Indeed, to suppose that the great vagus — the nerve of 
respiration, digestion, and circulation — could have its 
source in those restiform bodies would be to ignore the 
fixity of a general law of anatomy. For it is certain 
that all nerves have their primitive filaments imbedded in 
the grey, or cineritious, matter of the nervous centres. It 
is the vital well from which they spring. But though 
the pneumogastric nerve, or vagus, draws its strength 
from this parent stock, it, like a grateful living offspring, 
imparts, in a marvellous way, to the stomach, lungs, and 
heart a power that enables them, in their turn, to invigo- 
rate, by warm, life-sustaining arterial blood, that parent 
stock, which, without that constant aid, would instantly 
become extinct. 

Now, as it is an invariable law that all the nerves do 
take their rise by filaments issuing from the grey matter, 
and as the corpora restiformia are entirely composed of 
white medullary fibrous matter, they cannot be justly 
supposed to give origin to the pneumogastric nerve. And 
though the premises upon which Swedenborg reared his 
theory, that the mind had its seat in the cerebrum, or 
the larger portion of the brain, were undoubtedly sound, 
yet he was evidently mistaken in imagining that the 
cerebellum was exclusively the residence of the soul, that 
spiritual essence which he thought was the director and 
regulator of those vital functions that are beyond the 
boundary line of our consciousness. 

It is clear, then, that the internal organs, upon the 

F 2 



36 AMATIVENESS. 

unceasing action of which life depends, can do their worky 
at least for a brief while, when both the cerebrum and 
cerebellum are entirely wanting. Such was the fact int 
the case of the acephalous child already cited. And the 
case of the horse with the ossified cerebellum is, more- 
over, a satisfactory proof that neither volition, nor the 
faculty of locomotion, nor yet the power of preserving the 
equilibrium of the body, nor of regulating the action of 
the involuntary muscles and tissues of the vital organs, 
depend upon the cerebellum. 

Where, then, are we to look for the immediate central 
source of the involuntary vital power which pervades all 
the tissues of the respiratory and the digestive organs ? 
Where but in the medulla oblongata, from the interior 
substance of which the pneumogastric nerves arise. 

Tins medulla oblongata, which is situated between the 
spinal cord and the brain, consists of the anterior and 
posterior pyramidal bundles of white fibres, with the 
olivary and restiform bodies. The first of these, in 
their passage through the pons varolii, behind the 
transverse commissural or uniting fibres of the two lobes- 
of the cerebellum, become greatly increased in bulk by 
the cineritious substance it meets with in that body, 
and then proceeding upwards becomes merged in the 
anterior fibres of the crura of the cerebrum, from 
the interior cineritious portion of which new fibres arise. 
These increase in volume as they pass through the- 
thalami and corpora striata, or the great superior and 
inferior ganglia of the brain, until they reach its hemi- 
spheres. It is through these parts that the will is- 
transmitted from the frontal, or intellectual lobes of the 
brain, which are its true and only seats, to the anterior 
columns of the spinal cord, whence arise the nerves of 



AMATIVENESS. 37 

voluntary motion. The second portion, or posterior 
; pyramidal bodies, are behind the pons varolii, and are 
continuous in their course with those parts of the posterior 
columns of the spinal cord from which the nerves of 
sensation take their rise. These fibres proceed upwards 
ihrough the back part of the above-mentioned crura 
cerebri, where they become greatly augmented, and then 
-through the thalami and striated bodies, until they reach 
the hemispheres of the brain, in the frontal lobes of which 
•alone reside the faculties that enable living beings to 
form a consciousness of the presence of those sensations, 
and a true conception of their several natures, as shall 
be shown by-and-bye. In the back part of this medulla 
oblongata there is, also, some grey, or cineritious matter, 
out of which issue the nerves of the senses of hearing 
and of tasting, with those which serve to sustain the 
•functions of chewing, swallowing, and digesting food, of 
modulating the tones of the voice, and of giving natural 
expression to the face. And though the nerves of the 
.sense of sight arise from the anterior pair of the quaclri- 
'geminal tubercles, which are placed higher up, yet these 
bodies are closely connected by distinct medullary fibres 
with the medulla oblongata at their back part, and 
•in front they communicate in the same way with the 
<crura of the brain. It has been already mentioned that 
out of this body, also springs the great pneumogastric 
■nerve, upon which, in conjunction with the sympathetic 
nerve, the functions of circulation, digestion, and respi- 
ration, depend. These quadrigeminal tubercles are 
•extremely sensitive. An injury to them is followed by 
-loss of sight ; and violent convulsive movements of the 
body and limbs, seemingly accompanied by great agony, 
•follow the probing of them, in the course of physiological 



38 AMATIVENESS. 

experiments. Their close connection with the sensory 
tract of the medulla oblongata, posteriorly, and anteriorly, 
with the crura, which are partly composed of fibres of 
the motor tract, is enough to account for their sensitive- 
ness and irritability. It is evident that these charac- 
teristic qualities are not at all dependent upon the 
presence of the lobes of the cerebrum or brain, or of 
the thalami and striated bodies, which directly and 
immediately contribute to the forming of those lobes. 
For, in addition to the evidence afforded, in regard to 
this phenomenon, by the acephalous child, already quoted,, 
there is on record an experiment made by Floureus, 
which is strikingly confirmatory of that fact. That 
physiologist contrived to remove by slicing, and by the 
strict avoidance of pressure downwards, the hemispheres 
of the brain of a common fowl, without producing any 
convulsive muscular movements in the animal, but the 
instant he touched the quadrigeminal tubercles, their 
ensued violent and irregular muscular actions. 

Seeing these things, are we not justified in inferring- 
that the convulsions which attend lesions of the parts 
above those tubercles are caused by the shock commu- 
nicated to these highly sensitive bodies, through the 
intervening medullary fibres, and not by the inherent 
sensibility of the parts that happen to be the immediate • 
seat of the lesion, whether that be produced by rough i 
experimental probing, or by the breaking of diseased 
blood-vessels on those parts? 

And is it not natural that death must speedily be the 
result of any serious injury done to these tubercles, when 
it is certain that by means of filaments of medullary sub- 
stance, proceeding upwards from the source of the great 
respiratory nerves, they have not only a direct commu- 



AMATIVENESS. 39 

nication with that source, but are almost in close contact 
with it ? For it is here the light of life is most readily 
put out ; as it is upon the integrity of this part that the 
living energy of the lungs, heart, and stomach depends. 
And it is here that animal sensibility and irritability may 
be said to hold their central court. But for the mind to 
have a just conception, or a simple consciousness of these 
sensibilities, in regard to their several individual idiosyn- 
cracies, they are passed with electric rapidity to the 
frontal lobes of the brain, which constitute the temple, 
where the intellectual faculties meet in conclave to divine 
the peculiar qualities and harmonious blendings of these 
sensibilities. It may be said, and with truth, that the 
spinal cord presents a central point of sensibility and 
irritability at the source of every pair of nerves. But 
this is a function comparatively of a subordinate nature, 
for it may be in parts destroyed without causing the loss 
of life. Indeed every nerve and even every fine filament 
of a nerve seems in itself to possess these qualities, as 
every broken off portion of a magnet still retains its 
positive and negative poles. But yet the true and 
crowning centre of sensibility and irritability is to be 
found only in the medulla oblongata. 

Now, when the close connection of the cerebellum with 
this complicated centre of sensibility is duly estimated, 
can any one be surprised at finding that mutilations of 
the cerebellum are attended with convulsive and irregular 
movements of the voluntary, and even of the involuntary 
muscles, without being under the necessity of concluding 
that that organ is the regulator of voluntary motion and 
the preserver of the equilibrium of the body ; or that upon 
it depends the involuntary action of the interior vital 



40 AMATIVENESS. 

able to think that the cerebellum is a potent disturber of 
muscular movements ? For a small tumour, whether it be 
an abnormal growth of bone on the inner surface of the 
scull, or be composed of some other structure, when it 
comes in contact with the cerebellum, is accompanied by- 
incurable epileptic fits. It is but natural to infer that this 
coincidence of facts is solely owing to the irritation and 
morbid periodical excitement of that organ ; and this may- 
happen without any necessary disruption of its structure. 
To judge by analogy it would indeed be wrong to suppose 
that this organ can have any share at all in the directing 
of voluntary movements, for it is certain that all the other 
well-established organs of the mental faculties, when in a 
state of excitement, manifest exaltation of their special 
functions. But the cerebellum, when irritated by disease 
or by the mutilations of experimental physiologists, 
manifests no power of control over the motions of the poor 
animals that are subjected to such experiments. But 
should not this be the case in an eminent degree, accord- 
ing to analogy, if such were its proper function ? 

Both reason and fact, then, strictly coincide in annul- 
ling the notions of some eminent physiologists concerning 
the functions of the cerebellum. 

But though the functions, said by them to inhere in this 
organ, can be discharged even while it is in an ossified state, 
as was proved by the case of the horse under the late Mr. 
Yuatt's care, yet it is certain that the condition of it 
exercises a mighty influence upon the most important of 
those functions. But it is obvious that among them is not 
to be reckoned the power that regtdates the actions of the 
voluntary muscles or that maintains their equilibrium. 
No. It rather shows its great energy as a potent medium 
for their disarrangement, in spite of the efforts of volition. 



AMATIVENESS. 41 

For instance, in the sickness called hysteria, the cere- 
bellum is the part of the nervous centres which is known 
to be primarily and specially affected ; and convulsions of 
the voluntary muscles, resembling epileptic fits, form a 
distressing symptom of this disease. But it is not the 
voluntary muscles only that are affected by the disturbed 
or excited state of this organ. The involuntary muscles 
are also strikingly influenced by its condition. How 
distressing in this same disease are the irregular palpita- 
tions of the heart, the inverted action of the muscular 
coat of the stomach, and the convulsive efforts of the thin 
muscle, called the midriff or diaphragm, which, somewhat 
in the shape of a fan, is spread out as an essential agent 
in the act of breathing, between the lungs and the viscera 
of the abdomen. Not only is this the case with respect to 
voluntary and involuntary muscles, its influence is also 
very great over the nerves that arise from the centres of 
sensation. But, instead of ministering to the natural 
functions of these nerves, it directly contributes to their 
abnormal action, if it do not altogether produce it ; for in 
hysteria the sense of taste becomes so completely vitiated 
that substances, naiiseous in the extreme to the palate in 
its healthy state, are eagerly sought for, and eaten with 
intense relish, by young persons suffering from this com- 
plaint. Even the sense of hearing becomes at times 
impaired, and complete blindness sometimes occurs during 
a paroxysm of this complaint, even when convulsions are 
not present. But though blindness and deafness do some- 
times occur in severe cases, for a little while, yet, in 
milder attacks of the disease, both sight and hearing are 
apt to become morbidly sensitive. The close connection 
of the cerebellum with the source of the senses of taste 
and hearing by means of its inferior pedicle, and with 



42 AMATIVENESS. 

the nerves of the sense of sight through its superior 
pedicle and the valve of Vieussens, accounts satisfactorily 
for these phenomena. But this is not all. It even 
influences the expression of the' eyes through the same 
channels. And as there is not an internal organ of the 
body that is not liable to simulate, in hysteria, the 
indications of true inflammatory action, when, in reality, 
no such action is at all going on, it is reasonable to 
conclude that this remarkable fact is owing to an exalta- 
tion of the function of the cerebellum by which parts that 
lie under the influence of the pneumogastric nerve are 
thus abnormally affected. For the first filaments of this 
nerve are intimately connected, as has been already 
shown, with the fibres of the corpus restiforme, which are 
a direct continuation of the hindmost columns of all of 
the spinal marrow. And, moreover, these columns, which 
seem to be exclusively destined to the service of the 
cerebellum, are in intimate union, through their whole 
course, with that division of the spinal cord, out of the 
grey substance of which spring the primary filaments of 
the nerves of ordinary sensation. The influences of the 
sense of touch upon the cerebellum are thus anatomically 
accounted for. But this influence, which is paramount 
and special, is wholly dependent upon the presence and 
healthful condition of the cerebellum itself; for we have 
seen in the case of the horse, in which that organ was- 
found to consist entirely of bone, that the ordinary 
influence of the sense of touch was duly felt by that 
animal. 

Besides its connection with the centres of sensation, 
in all their extent, the cerebellum is united to the motory 
columns of the spinal cord by fibres, which pass, trans- 
versely, from the anterior pyramidal bodies till they 



AMATIVENESS. 43 

become commingled with those which constitute the 
restiform bodies : and contribute to the twisted form of 
these — the inferior pedicles of the cerebellum. And, as 
has been already noticed, this organ is in communication 
also with the motor tract of fibres, in the crura of the 
cerebrum, by means of its superior pedicles. Its inti- 
mate union with the nerves, which support the action 
of the involuntary muscles of the interior life-preserving 
organs, has also been shown. Is it then to be wondered at 
that both the voluntary and involuntary muscles should 
be strangely influenced by strong affections of the cere- 
bellum? And, as the action of the voluntary muscles 
is co-ordinate in vigour with the intensity of sensation, 
is it not to be expected that so great a centre of 
sensation, as the cerebellum obviously is, should be, 
Avhen powerfully affected, the instigator of overruling 
impetuosity in the action of those muscles ? But with 
this difference, namely ; that in this instance their action 
is seemingly inordinate, whilst it is co-ordinate with 
respect to volition. The word seemingly is used here, 
because, in looking only to the influence of the will, 
which in this case is altogether inoperative, such move- 
ments of the muscles would naturally be deemed 
inordinate. But when these ungovernable muscular 
movements are always found to accompany strong affec- 
tions of the cerebellum, as, for instance, in hysteria, it 
is surely right to conclude that such movements, though 
they are inordinate with respect to the behests of the 
will, yet are inevitably to be looked upon as being 
co-ordinate with the instinctive functions of the cerebel- 
lum. For Nature's laws, which are the offspring of 
Almighty creative power, are in all things co-ordinate. 
Seeing then that ordinary sensation, with a thorough 



44 AMATIVENESS. 

consciousness of its existence, can remain in all its 
integrity, even when the cerebellum is nothing but a 
lump of bone, it follows, to a certainty, that this organ 
is neither the seat of ordinary sensation nor of conscious- 
ness. But, when its intimate connection with the true 
sources of ordinary sensation is duly weighed and con- 
sidered, it would be a marvel indeed if so great a centre 
•of sensibility were not affected by impressions made 
upon the external senses. 

Since the cerebellum is the terminus and capital of a 
grand division of the sensory columns of the spinal marrow, 
it is but just and reasonable that it should be looked 
upon as a great centre of sensibility. But it is proved 
by facts, already stated, that the external senses have 
continued in all their integrity, after the true medullary 
and cineritious structure of that organ had been entirely 
obliterated. It cannot, therefore, be the centre of ordinary 
sensation. Its sensitiveness, then, must be exclusive 
and peculiar ; and facts, abounding and palpable, con- 
vincingly attest that the discovery of the essential quality 
of that sensitiveness and its reciprocal instinct is entirely 
due to the keenly observant, sagacious, and comprehensive 
intellect of Francis Joseph Gall. 

The celebrated names already adduced as conclusive 
evidence of the fallacy of the opinion that there is always 
a uniformity of proportion, as to size, between the cere- 
brum and cerebellum, are also examples of the truth of 
Gall's views. 

The addition here of a few more instances, corrobora- 
tive of this truth, will not be uninstructive. For instance, 
in the characteristic portrait of that licentious man, Pietro 
Aretino, painted nearly in profile by his friend, Titian, 
and engraved by Hollar, the region of the cerebellum is 



AMATIVENESS. 45 

very large, both absolutely and relatively, whilst the 
same part is intrinsically of moderate size in the profile 
of that great artist and virtuous man, Michael Angelo, 
engraved by his contemporary, Bonasone. And, unlike 
the case of Aretino, whose death was caused, it is said, 
by the falling back of his chair, during an immoderate 
fit of laughter, by which he was seized on hearing of 
some scandalous story respecting his own sister, the 
cerebellum is but very moderately developed, in pro- 
portion to the grand dimensions of the rest of the brain 
in Michael Angelo. Or let the beautiful print of the 
latter by Longhi, from a portrait by Michael Angelo 
himself, be placed by the side of the fine engraving by 
Miillar, of Luther's portrait by his friend Lucas Cranach, 
and there can be no hesitation in deciding as to the 
paramount size of the region of the cerebellum, both 
absolutely and relatively, in the portrait of the renowned 
ecclesiastical reformer and whilom friar of the Augustin 
order. The prominent development of this organ is 
singidarly manifested in the profile engraving of Martin 
Bucer, by Valk. And in regard to the engraved 
portraits of Pope Alexander the Sixth, whose course 
of life was a scandal to the Catholic Church, and of 
those of the chaste, pious, beneficent, and saintly Charles 
Borromeo, the remarkable prominence of the same 
organ in the former, and its scantiness in the latter, 
are marked characteristics. In the profiles of Lord 
Bolingbroke and his friend Pope, etched by Richardson, 
the relative largeness of the same region of the head, in 
the former, and its moderate size in the latter, can be 
seen at a glance ; and the habits of Bolingbroke, in early 
life, according to his friend Chesterfield's account of him, 
were such as would be anticipated by a well-informed 



46 AMATIVENESS. 

phrenologist at the first sight of this profile. Among 
the relics of ancient art can also be discerned the source 
of the degrading profligacy of that extraordinary and 
accomplished man, Sylla the Dictator, and of the virtuous 
continence of Cicero, the orator. And it is seen in the 
finest of the busts of the high-minded Scipio Africanus 
how the influence of a large development of this organ 
can be curbed and counteracted, where there exists a 
fine development of the organs of the religious and of the 
moral sentiments. 

When the importance of possessing an unerring clue to 
the source of this instinctive affection is thought of, it is 
hoped that this discourse will not be deemed unnecessarily 
long ; especially, when the hazardous nature of an attempt 
to overturn, with any prospect of success, the dogmas of 
eminent physiologists is taken into account, even though 
the phenomena upon which those dogmas are founded are 
contradictory and conjectural. 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OE VOLITION? 



Peevious to entering upon the analysis of the organs of 
the cerebrum, or brain proper, and their faculties, it will 
be interesting to trace the true source of volition, or the 
will, in its capacity of regulator and director of muscular 
movements; especially as it serves to throw additional 
light upon some points of organology and psychology. 

It is obvious to reason, founded upon the evidence of 
palpable facts, that the power of the will over the muscles 
which are subject to its influence does not at all emanate 
from the cerebellum. Neither does it spring from the 
central ganglions of the brain, as was supposed to be the 
case, when the cessation of this power was found to be 
coincident with disease of those parts. But since it has 
often happened that this cessation of power was found to 
exist when these central bodies were intrinsically free 
from disease, there can be no true grounds for such a 
supposition. On the contrary, facts, both natural and 
experimental, prove, beyond question, that the frontal 
lobe of the brain, which is the seat of the faculties of the 
understanding, is also the residence of the faculty called 
volition or will, upon which the direction and co-ordina- 
tion of the muscles of voluntary motion depend. 

But it would be wrong to imagine that the whole of the 
frontal lobe is engaged in the performance of this marvel- 
lous function; since it is a demonstrable fact that there 



48 WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 

have existed many men, possessed of brains and foreheads 
of great size and transcendent functional power, but who- 
were, nevertheless, incapable of using their volition so- 
that it should become the director and co-ordinator of a 
certain assemblage of voluntary muscles. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson, for instance, was endowed with 
a forehead indicative of superior intellectual power (see 
Plate 11), but yet he was not gifted with the faculty of 
bringing his strong will to bear upon those nerves and 
muscles of the organs of voice, upon the simultaneous 
co-operation of which the power of singing and whistling 
depends. Neither could Napoleon I., with a forehead 
of still greater power, and abounding strength of will, 
ever become capable of co-ordinating the movements of 
the same series of muscles, so far as to give vocal ex- 
pression to melodious strains. And Gall, who possessed 
a forehead of great size, and who had the genius to bring 
mental philosophy, which was, before his time, in a 
measure simply conjectural, into the category of positive 
sciences, was also wanting in the power of using his will 
so as to cause the muscles of his organ of voice to pro- 
duce harmonious combinations of sounds. 

Now the casts from nature of Johnson, Napoleon, and 
Gall display a far greater development of the frontal 
lobe than is found to be the case in the heads of many 
great singers, whose volition, or will, could adapt the 
organs of voice, without an effort, to the production of 
melodious tones. This being the case, then, it follows, 
of necessity, that there should be found in these singers 
a paramount development of some particular part of the 
forehead, with which the heads of Napoleon, Gall, and 
Johnson were but scantily furnished. And such is 
palpably the case. 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION ? 49 

This comparatively defective portion of the foreheads 
of these extraordinary men is found to lie about half-an- 
inch above the external angle of the eye. And that is 
the part which is always protuberant in great singers. 
But it is especially so in all great musical composers. A 
comparison between the casts from nature of Malibran, 
Mendlessohn, and Weber, with those of Napoleon, John- 
son, and Grail, will afford striking instances of this fact. 

Of these three casts Johnson's is most remarkable for 
the want of saliency in that part of the forehead which 
has just been indicated. It is called the organ of music, 
for on it depends the power of perceiving melodious 
combinations of sounds. Now, Johnson was noted for 
his total want of ear for music. Napoleon, who, accord- 
ing to Bourienne, had but little real taste, for music, was 
yet capable of being pleasurably affected by it. For he 
himself, as it is recorded in some maxims and observa- 
tions, spoken by him to Las Casas in St. Helena, says, 
" I never heard any music with so much pleasure as 
Mehul's < Tartar March.' " 

But since it is a well-known fact that there are many 
highly intellectual men who seem pleased to hear a good 
song, but who are, nevertheless, powerless, as regards 
effective volition, even when they make wishful efforts 
to sing or whistle in tune, it is highly probable that the 
will of Napoleon the Great was ineffective in this respect. 

But those who hesitate or refuse to believe that the 
perception of melody is confined to a particular organ 
in the brain, are apt to think that volition, as regards 
singing, is powerless, only because the organs of voice 
are naturally, or through accident, not constituted to 
answer to its behests. Certainly, if the instrument be 
out of order, the director of its movements will fail to 

G 



50 WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 

render its action harmonious. But, surely, it cannot 
for an instant be supposed that any want of harmony 
exists in the relative power of the nerves and muscles 
of the organs of voice in great speakers, who are re- 
markable for the compass and mellowness of their tones, 
when talking. And yet some persons of that class have 
been utterly incapable of exercising such an amount of 
volition upon those nerves and muscles as would be 
productive of tuneful sounds, so harmoniously composed 
as to constitute song. There are others, again, who, 
though far less gifted with vocal powers as to mere 
quality of tone, yet have evinced rare ability in causing 
those nerves and muscles to act so as to render them- 
selves famous for the exquisiteness of their singing. A 
more striking or more interesting example of this could 
not be adduced than the poet, Thomas Moore, whose 
singing was the delight of all who had the happiness of 
hearing him. Now the prominence of this organ of 
music is conspicuous in the mask taken, during life, 
from the face of this great lyric poet (see Plate 12). 

But volition is a kind of Proteus of the mind ; and 
it loves to take up its abode sometimes in one organ of 
the frontal lobe of the brain and sometimes in another ; 
for certainly cases have occurred in which it has found 
the organ of Constructiveness, or the mechanical instinct, 
a more suitable habitation for it than that of music. 

A striking instance of this truth was to be seen in 
the streets of London some years ago. A poor man, 
named Thomas MacDermott, born without hands or feet, 
attracted the attention of passers-by by the unique 
dexterity he exhibited in the making of urns and fans' 
out of a tastefully notched piece of wood, which was : 
about ten inches long and one inch square. This was 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 51 

done by slicing the piece of wood into portions not 
thicker than vellum, from one end of it to within about 
half-an-inch of the other. He then spread it out as a 
lady would her fan. And, after fixing it, ornamented 
and secured its form by ribbons of various colours, which 
were woven from one side to the other between the 
separate cuttings. All this was done with a coarse, 
ill-fashioned knife of large size. This man wrote an 
exceedingly neat hand also, with a pen made by him- 
self with the same knife. This he held between his 
forearms, the stumps of which terminated — one of them 
a little more than half way between the elbow and where 
the hand would naturally be placed — the other was much 
shorter. And the pen he held, whilst making it, in a. 
sort of wooden holder, which he pressed between his 
knees. 

In the face of such a fact as this how erroneous must 
the theory be that would mainly attribute the superior 
mechanical attributes of the human race to the exquisite 
form of the hand. For, though the fair development of 
this man's mechanical faculties was curtailed through 
want of this admirably-constructed instrument, he was yet 
capable of displaying more power as a handicraftsman, if 
such an epithet be allowable in a case like this, than many 
individuals whose fingers and thumbs exist in all their 
integrity ; for it is notorious that some persons are quite 
incapable of using their hands with the least degree of 
dexterity in any mechanical operation. Nevertheless, it 
would be impossible, in the absence of this instrument, to 
fulfil, in their grandest andjmost diversified forms, the 
behests of the superior mechanical attributes, that were 
at the beginning bestowed by God on man alone, of all 
His sublunary creatures. It is only an instrument of 



52 WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 

volition notwithstanding; and cannot, in the nature of 
things, be endowed with suggestive qualities ; although 
such must have been the surmise of the philosopher, who 
seemed to think that, if man's arms had ended in some-- 
thing analagous to a horse's hoof, no such mechanical 
tendencies would be found to exist among the faculties of 
the mind. But surely in the case of Thomas MacDermott 
the handless arms were as imperfect, as instruments of 
the mechanical faculty, as if they had been originally 
encumbered with such inappropriate and unnatural 
adjuncts. 

The hands of the chimpanzee and the orang-outang' 
make a near approach in form to the hand of man, and 
yet they have remained, since the day of their creation, 
without having ever manifested, even in the slightest 
degree, a tendency to use their fingers and thumbs in any- 
kind of work suggested by the mechanical instinct. Not 
so with the beaver, the bee, and many other living things 
that are destitute of hands. Even the birds of the air are 
capable of constructing their nests, and sometimes in a 
very ingenious manner. 

Seeing then that some persons are possessed of great 
power of volition in directing and in regulating the 
actions of the muscles, which are exactly adapted to the 
working out of mechanical suggestions, and that others 
are quite destitute of that power, it now remains to be 
shewn where the immediate source of this power is to be- 
found. 

That it is to be found in the marvellous composition of 
white and grey medullary substance, called the brain, with 
its attendant vascular neurolema, or pia mater, which 
invests each of its minutest fibres, in order to their sup- 
port and renovation by life-sustaining blood, is a fact 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OP VOLITION? 53 

established beyond doubt. And that it cannot lie in the 
cerebellum is as certain as the coming of the light of day ; 
for the orang-outang possesses a perfect cerebellum, as do 
those persons who are destitute of mechanical aptitudes 
even in their simplest forms. 

But the will that directs and regulates the actions of 
those muscles which subserve the mechanical instinct, 
> cannot spring from the same source with that by which 
those of the organs of voice are guided in the act of 
, producing melody ; for these talents do not always fall to 
the lot of the same individual. But as every faculty that 
is purely intellectual, and such as are simply the hand- 
maids of intellect, have their organs in the anterior lobes 
of the brain, it is in that division of it we must expect to 
: find that of Constructiveness. And it is to this, and to no 
other part of the brain, can be assigned the duty of a 
regulator and director of the muscles necessary for the 
■< conduct of mechanical operations. 

The seat of this organ, the existence of which is now a 
thoroughly established fact, will be shown in the proper 
.place. It is only necessary to say here that it was 
remarkably large in the poor cripple, Thomas MacDermott. 
And he was also remarkable for a superior development of 

• the organs of the internal senses of Form, Size, and 
Weight, or resistance, without the co-operation of which 
the plans of constructiveness could not be dexterously 
manipulated. 

But, after all, these organs are only instruments of 

• the will, without which its desires and aspirations could 
not be fulfilled. Its original and permanent seat must, 
therefore, be looked for elsewhere ; and there is reason 

• to feel assured that it is central, for, as the organ called 
Eventuality is, as will be shown hereafter, the region of 



54 WHAT IS THE SOUKCE OF VOLITION? 

the forehead wherein resides the power of perceiving - 
phenomena, whether these be of the external world or 
,of the inward workings of the mind itself, so must it 
be the seat of consciousness and of the conception of the 
entity Self, for these are mental phenomena. The will, 
too, is a phenomenon, and as it is the direct offspring 
of self it must have its source in the organ that takes 
cognizance of self. Now, since the organ which perceives 
phenomena, as they are conveyed to it through every 
other organ, according to the nature and capacity of each,, 
must, like the others, take pleasure in its own activity, 
. it is from it that the will to set them in motion, in order 
to reproduce those phenomena that may happen to be 
, most gratifying to the entity self, must naturally spring. 
These organs are its proximate diversified agents, its 
remote ones are the nerves and muscles of voluntary 
motion. But its control over the latter depends upon 
the efficient action of the former, as has been clearly 
shown to be the case in the instances of singing, whistling, 
and manual dexterity. 

But if singing and whistling depend upon the action 
of the muscles of the glottis, or organ of voice, in the one r 
and upon those of the lips and tongue in the other, when 
set in motion by the organ of music, which lies in the 
frontal lobe of the brain, so must the power of voluntarily 
using the limbs in the act of walking and of directing 
their course with ordinary steadiness to some object or 
place, or of causing them to maintain the equilibrium of 
the body when standing still, be dependent upon other 
organs of the same lobe of the brain ; which organs alone 
perceive the distance and local position of things, and 
impart a feeling of the sense of resistance, or of the relative 
weight of bodies. These are the organs of weight, size,, 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 55 

and locality. But, when non-electric alcoholic liquors 
have withdrawn from the centre of the nervous system 
its adequate supply of electricity, and drunkenness ensues, 
there arise phenomena of a totally opposite kind, for the 
person suffering from the effects . of ardent spirits loses 
the power of judging the true distance of objects so 
completely that, in trying to catch hold of things beyond 
his reach, he loses his balance and falls to the ground. 
And why is this ? It is because the organs above-named 
have lost through intoxication their power of co-operative 
action, and the efforts of their muscular auxiliaries become 
staggering and abnormal. But still volition continues to 
be exerted long after its co-ordinate agents have lost 
their guiding power. These cannot, therefore, be the 
primitive source of volition. 

And, also, when the perceptive and reflective organs 
of the intellect have lost for a while, through inebriety, 
their powers of combination and concentration, there still 
exists some wakeful indications of volition. . And are 
there not, according to the evidence already adduced, 
strong grounds for feeling assured that the seat of this 
attribute is the organ that takes cognizance of phenomena, 
and which is named Eventuality. 

The functions of the cerebrum come now to be con- 
sidered. But before entering oh the treatment of its 
various organs it is useful to state that that body consists 
of two hemispheres, and that each of these is composed 
of three parts, which are called basilar, coronal, and 
frontal lobes. The basilar again admits of subdivision 
into the lateral and posterior lobes. 

Though there are distinct lines of demarcation between 
these lobes, yet parts of them, the most remote from 
each other, are intimately connected by medullary bonds 



56 WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION? 

of union, called commissures, which traverse the interior 
of the brain in great abundance from the right hemi- 
sphere to the left. And thus is maintained unbroken 
the harmonious co-operation of these, its two grand 
divisions. Besides these there are two longitudinal 
commissures, one over and the other under the great 
transverse one, which is called the Corpus callosum. 
These two stretch along from the anterior to the pos- 
terior lobes, and form connecting links between the white 
fibres of these lobes, which spring from the grey vascu- 
lar portion of the convolutions that constitute the surface 
of the brain. The under one, moreover, bends downwards 
at its back part, and then proceeds forwards into the 
substance of the middle lobes, as well as backwards into 
the posterior lobes. This body is termed the Fornix : 
and it springs from two sources in the dark grey sub- 
stance which exists in the interior of the optic thalami, 
or the great inferior ganglia of the brain. And these 
two parts or pillars of the fornix, by coalescing in its 
central portion, form also an union between the two 
sides of the brain. There is, likewise, a white cord, 
about the thickness of a crowquill, which expands at its 
extremities in the substance of the middle lobes, after 
traversing the striated bodies, or great superior ganglia, 
which contribute largely to the forming of the frontal 
and superior cerebral convolutions. There are other 
small connecting links between the two hemispheres, the 
most remarkable of which is perhaps the pineal gland, 
about the size of a small pea, with its medullary thread- 
like appendages in the very centre of the brain. Indeed, 
this commissural system extends through the whole 
course of the spinal marrow : but it is most conspicuous 
in the interlacing fibres of the medulla oblongata, 



WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF VOLITION ? 57 

Now, since the middle and posterior lobes consist of 
the organs of the lower propensities, and as the moral 
and religious sentiments have their appropriate seats in 
the superior ones, while the forehead is undoubtedly the 
exclusive seat of the intellectual faculties ; since such is 
the fact, these commissures cannot be too highly prized ; 
for they serve to produce, with perhaps more than electric 
rapidity, the co-operation of organs that are remote from 
one another, and that differ intrinsically in their attri- 
butes, but which, when acting in co-ordinate unison, 
give rise to the harmonious association of our ideas : — 

" For, as oft as a feeling but touches one link, 
Its niaeric will send it direct through the chain." 



PHILOPROGENITIVENESS - PARENTAL 
LOVE. 



covered by the upper part of the occipital bone, lie con- 
volutions, which form, in various degrees of prominence, 
what is vernacularly called the poll of the head. In 
mankind this part is characteristically more salient in 
women than in men; and in females than in males all 
through the animal kingdom. Now, since the woman's 
head is known to be smaller than that of the man, not 
only in regard to its entire bulk, but also to its special 
organic sub-divisions, with the exception of the part just 
described, it will throw light upon the object we are- 
trying to find out, to ask ourselves, what attribute of the- 
mind it is which appears characteristically stronger in 
women than in men. And can there be any hesitation 
in admitting that the love of offspring is the attribute we 
are in search of? 

Now, as the superior largeness of this region of the 
brain in woman tallies with the paramount intensity ot 
her parental love, there is thus afforded strong presump- 
tive evidence to show that the function assigned by Gall, 
to the convolutions of the cerebrum, seated in the median' 
line, and just over the cerebellum, is the correct one.. 



PHILOPKOGENITIVENESS. 59 

But when it is an establised fact that this coincidence of 
function and special organic development is constant, as 
the reports of truthful observers, whose successive labours, 
have been conducted with scrupulous exactness over a 
period of sixty years, abundantly show ; reports, too, be 
it borne in mind, which are sustained in all their integrity 
by facts in natural history — when such is beyond question 
the case it cannot but be regarded as a palpable fact. 
Pathology, too, yields positive testimony as to the stability 
of the conclusion come to by phrenologists in regard to- 
the true locality of the organ of philoprogenitiveness. 

I will now adduce two very marked pathological proofs.,, 
which will, perhaps, serve to raise strong convictions in 
the minds of scientific physiologists and psychologists of* 
the correctness of Gall's notion respecting the real and 
exclusive function of this part of the brain. And may 
these proofs also stand before them as trustful beacons to 
lead them to the unprejudiced investigation of all the 
rest of Gall and Spurzheim's discoveries in regard to the 
plurality and special attributes of the cerebral organs. 

Many years ago a lady of large fortune had to accom- 
pany her husband, whose health was failing, to a distant 
.part of the country for change of air. But so great was 
the intensity of her maternal love that she could not 
be persuaded to leave home, even upon such a serious 
occasion, without bringing her numerous family of 
children along with her, although there was everything 
prepared for their comfort and happiness at her own 
residence, where they could have been left in safety,., 
under the care of their near relatives during her tem- 
porary absence. On her journey she stayed a few days 
in London, and appeared to be free from any ailment. 
One night, however, after partaking of some amusement, „ 



■60 PHILOPEOGENITIVENESS. 

she went to bed without any appearance of being unwell ; 
yet she was found dead in the morning. A post mortem 
examination was made under the eye of the most eminent 
surgeon of the time, which resulted in the fact that the 
brain was found to be healthy in every part of it, except 
in the middle portion of the posterior lobe, where its 
convolutions lap over the centre of the cerebellum. And 
there to the extent of two inches in width and one in 
height, the structure of the brain was greatly altered. It 
had degenerated into a soft, semifluid mass. The diseased 
condition of these parts was necessarily the result of 
inordinate circulation of the blood through them ; and 
this state of things is always accompanied by paramount 
and vast increase of heat in the minute bloodvessels that 
permeate that most delicate of all the tissues of the body. 
No wonder then that this augmented heat and fullness 
should, ere long, be followed by disorganisation of its 
natural structure. 

Another instance of ardent parental love was evinced 
by a poor washerwoman, who lived in the neighbourhood 
of the Strand, in London, some twenty-five years ago. 
She had an only child who, when he was old enough to 
be able to serve her by his labour, thought proper to 
enlist as a soldier. Nearly heartbroken at her loss, the 
bereaved creature vowed that she would work to the 
utmost extent of her strength, so that before her death 
she might be in a condition to purchase the discharge 
of her beloved child. With this object in view, she 
lived in the most frugal way, denying herself even such 
little comforts as she could afford to have. By this means 
she was enabled to put by a sum of money sufficient for 
her warmly cherished purpose — and then died, shortly 
after having had the joy of seeing her son restored to 



PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 61 

her. The cause of this poor woman's sudden death was 
also softening and destruction of the organization of the 
convolutions which comprise the organ of the Love of 
Offspring. Externally, this part of the head was ex- 
tremely protuberant. 

Philoprogenitiveness is remarkably large in the cast 
of the head of Margaret Nicholson, who was confined 
many years in Bethlehem Hospital, for her insane at- 
tempt to assassinate George the Third. And it was 
supposed that her crime was owing to her mind having 
become distracted on account of her son, who was a 
soldier, and had, as she imagined, some cause of complaint 
against the military authorities (see Plate 5). 

Speculative philosophers have assigned various motives 
as the primary excitants of this affection. But, since 
those motives could only strike a mind capable of reflec- 
tion and wise forethought (which differs from the in- 
stinctive prevision of insects and of all other inferior 
animals), it is obvious that an affection which we possess 
in common with those animals cannot take its rise from 
such motives. It is not the sympathy caused by active 
benevolence for feeble helplessness, either, which can 
originate it ; for we find the most tender care taken of 
their young ones by some of the most ferocious of the 
brute creation. The sheep and the gentle fawn are not 
more tender in the treatment of their offspring than the 
lion and the tiger are of their cubs. Nor is the gentle 
pigeon so fond a mother, or so careful and kind a nurse, 
as the fiery and pugnacious game-hen. Nor does the 
sanguinary, carnivorous eagle yield in tender care for 
her little ones to the harmless turkey. Gall mentions a 
species of spider that carries its eggs on its back for 
safety ; and the instinctive care taken of their ova by 



<32 PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 

ants, when their habitations are rudely torn up, has often 
been observed. Bees and wasps become formidable 
assailants should their hives and nests be threatened 
with danger, when they are sedulously engaged in taking 
care of their young. 

Some birds manifest this instinctive propensity more 
strongly than others. The quail will suffer the approach 
of the reaper rather than abandon her young; while, 
on the contrary, the cuckoo lays her egg in some smaller 
bird's nest, and takes no further care of it. This bird 
is a neglectful parent and an ungrateful foster-child ; for, 
as soon as she is reared by the smaller bird, she forcibly 
expels her nurse and her young ones, should there be 
any, from the nest. 

It may here be observed that, although the sculls of 
the partridge and the cuckoo are about the same size, 
and closely resemble each other in their general configura- 
tion, there is still a difference between them in a certain 
part of the scull which could not fail to strike the eye 
of the most careless observer. This difference consists 
of a palpable depression in the' scull of the cuckoo, and 
of a remarkable protuberance in that of the partridge, 
precisely at the part of the head which corresponds to 
the centre of the posterior lobes of the brain, lying 
immediately above the cerebellum, and which is the 
spot designated by Gall as the seat of the organ of 
parental love. 

When this propensity is strong it gives rise in the 
human species to the instinctive display of ardent affec- 
tion for young children ; and many a time has an utter 
stranger to an infant evinced more anxiety for its pro- 
tection, and more activity in ministering to its comfort 
and happiness, than its own mother, who has not been 



PHILOPROaENITIVENESS. 63 

blessed with an adequate endowment of this organ, the 
function of which is one of the most important and 
delightful attributes of the mind. And it is certain that 
the true source of this seemingly unnatural contrast can 
be, and has been, traced to the largeness of the hindmost 
•convolutions of the brain in the one case, and to their 
smallness in the other. 

Such a fact as this might lead one to think that the 
love of the young would be a more suitable appellation 
for this affection than the one adopted by Gall, if what 
has been observed in the conduct of inferior creatures 
did not impress the mind with the conviction that in its 
most abstract state its function is confined to the love of 
offspring. 

The partridge, for instance, is tenderly attached to her 
own brood, but she will not take care of the deserted 
brood of any other bird, while the common pheasant is 
ready to nurse strange nestlings as if they were her own. 
A favourite cat had her only kitten killed by accident in 
her absence, and another of the same general appearance 
was procured from a neighbour, and laid, after the lapse 
of a very short time, in the place of her own. But she 
would have nothing to do with it. Hence it would seem 
to be certain that parental love properly designates this 
propensity. It would, also, appear to be a physiological 
fact that this affection increases in intensity towards tho 
close of parturition, as the following circumstance seems 
to attest. Two cats, mother and daughter, always con- 
tinued on the most friendly terms with each other, until, 
on one occasion, during the approach of parturition, the 
old cat became spiteful towards the younger one, but, as 
the final hours drew nigh, she acted towards her as if she 
were a young one newly born to her. 



64 PHILOPKOGENITIVENESS. 

And is it not a wise provision of nature, gradually to 
imbue a special portion of the brain with more intense 
activity at a time when its energies are to be more vitally 
tested than on ordinary occasions? It is also to this 
partial excitement of a particular part of the brain of 
migratory birds that their instinctive wanderings, at stated, 
times, can alone be attributed. 

Parental love is characteristically stronger in women 
than in men. In early childhood, this disparity is evinced 
by the affectionate craving of girls for the possession of 
dolls, and in the total rejection of such playthings by boys. 
Amongst the lower animals this fact is still more apparent, 
because of their being unendowed with those high moral 
attributes, which in man are, in some degree, capable of 
compensating for the comparative inactivity of the instinct 
called Love of Offspring. And the difference in the- 
prominence of this part of the brain between the male 
and female of the same species of animal is perceptible- 
to the practised eye of the phrenologist who has extended 
his researches into the sphere of these lower creatures. 

In the dolphin the scull of the female, though a little 
smaller, is, in its contour at first sight, exactly like that 
of the male ; but a closer inspection will convince any one 
that the central part of it, just over the cerebellum, is 
fuller in the female. The same difference between male 
and female may be seen also in the porpoise, the seal, and 
many other animals. 

In monkeys this part of the head is much developed. In 
some species, the posterior lobes actually project beyond 
the line of the cerebellum. In the little capucine, for 
instance, this projection is very obvious. And who can 
deny the excessive fondness of monkeys for their young ? 

This overlapping of the cerebellum by the posterior 



PHILOPKOGENITIVENESS. 65 

lobes of the brain in monkeys is so palpable that it is 
surprising their assumed absence should have been adduced 
as an instance of the wide space which separates the 
human race from every other animal. But, though such 
is the case in the monkey tribe, it is different in others. 
In the cat and dog, for example, there is a complete 
absence of this overlapping of the cerebellum. Supposing, 
for a moment, that this apparent dissimilarity of organic 
form is a special mark of distinction between man's nature 
and that of all other animals, save the monkey tribes, it 
would follow of necessity that the monkey bears a rela- 
tionship to the nature of man which has been denied fo 
all other animals. But is it true that the posterior lobes 
of the brain do not exist in the lower animals ? No. Such 
is not at all the case ; although the absence of the over- 
lapping would lead any one, unacquainted with the 
source from whence these posterior lobes of the brain 
proceed, to feel persuaded of their non-existence. A 
few words will suffice to clear up this obscurity. 

" In mammiferous tribes," says Spurzheim, "the cere- 
bral crura are evidently divided into two parts, namely, 
an anterior and external, and a posterior and interna] 
mass. Two superficial furrows mark their limits respec- 
tively. They bear no regular proportion to each other. 
In the human kind, the anterior and external portion 
composes two-thirds, at least, of the entire crura, but 
in the lower animals, the posterior is, by much, the more 
considerable portion of the two." 

Now, since it is anatomically certain that these posterior 
and internal divisions pass on to form the posterior lobes 
of the brain, after having acquired a great augmentation 
of bulk in their passage through the thalami ; and as 
these divisions of the crura, and also of the thalami, are 

H 



66 PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. 

proportionately much larger in the lower animals than 
the anterior, which go to form the frontal and superior 
lobes, it follows that the lobes which are supposed to be 
wanting in these creatures must not only exist, but be 
even larger in relation to the anterior and superior 
portions of the brain than is the case in the human kind, 
wherein the anterior divisions of the crura compose, at 
least, two-thirds of their whole bulk. These anatomical 
facts explain the relative superiority, as to size, of the 
frontal lobes of the brain in mankind ; and their relative 
inferiority in the brains of all the lower animals, not 
excepting the orang-outang, chimpanzee, or gorilla. 

But the presence of these unequal divisions of the 
crura cannot belong to mammiferous animals alone ; for 
birds and reptiles possess the crura, and also parts closely 
attached to these, which Spurzheim positively avers to be 
strictly analogous to the thalami and corpora striata. 
The posterior lobes of the brain, of which the larger 
divisions of the crura are the nucleus in animals that 
suckle their young, must, therefore, exist in birds and 
other animals that are not mammiferous. A similarity 
of function in all of them must be the necessary con- 
sequence; and long experience proves infallibly that the 
degree of ardour evinced by animals in the taking care 
of their young depends upon the greater or less develop- 
ment of the central part of the posterior lobes of the 
brain. And, as this care devolves, especially in the 
helpless hours of infancy, upon the female parent, it has 
been the will of the Creator, who sees fitness in all 
things, to bestow upon the female those mental and 
bodily characteristics which render the love of offspring 
a dominant ingredient of her constitution ; and the 
nurturing of it, moreover, a source of gratification so 



PHILOPEOGENITIVENESS. 67 

intensely charming, that even painful and harassing 
disquietude fails to imbue it with a tincture of irksome- 
ness. 

Many a time, however, has the central part of the 
poll of the head been found very prominent in some men, 
:and poorly developed in some women. In such cases 
the lukewarmness of the latter, as regards the affectionate 
care of children, and the glowing tenderness of the former 
tire always conspicuous. 

Amongst aboriginal races, the Esquimaux in the 
frigid zone, and the Negroes in the torrid, are remark- 
able for the strength of their parental love; and the 
prominence of this organ in their sculls is a marked 
characteristic. In those of the Sandwich and Friendly 
Islands, on the contrary, there is a remarkable deficiency 
in the development of the same organ ; and is there not 
written evidence to show that care for their children is 
comparatively a weak attribute of their character? The 
sculls of Peruvians of the Inca race present the like 
conformation, even where there appeared no sign of 
artificial pressure having been used. And is it not re- 
corded that child-murder was a prevailing crime among 
the lower order of that sensually-disposed, but yet gentle, 
docile, and singularly devotional people? Having many 
times scanned such a number of these Peruvian sculls 
as would warrant any one in coining to the opinion that 
they offered a true representation of the form of head by 
which this race of men was characterized, and having 
taken outlines of many of the highest class, I am bound 
to say that the cerebellum was large, and the organ of 
the Love of Offspring small, both absolutely and rela- 
tively, in all of them. And, accordingly, to so great 
an extent did this heartless vice prevail that, in order to 

h2 



68 PHIL0PR0GEXITIVENES3. 

curb it, the ruling powers found it necessary to raise' 
foundling hospitals. 

Since, then, the posterior lobes of the brain do, to a^ 
certainty, exist in all animals that take care of their 
young, and as the convolutions, which lie in the centre, 
of those lobes, just over the cerebellum in the human race,, 
are proved by an overwhelming accumulation of facts,, 
both positive and negative, physiological and pathological,, , 
to be essential to the manifestation of that powerful affec- 
tion of the mind called Love of Offspring, it follows that 
the same, or rather analogous convolutions, [from being 
relatively larger in the lower animals, than those of which 
the frontal and superior lobes are composed, must act in 
them with even more concentrated intensity. 

But, as the young of animals very soon acquire the 
power of providing for themselves, parental love soon- 
ceases to be necessary for their safety, and from the 
absence of intellectual prospectiveness in the parents all 
signs of the presence of this powerful instinct totally 
disappear. 

In mankind, on the contrary, this feeling is lasting and 
almost indelible, because, unlike animals, man's thoughts- 
are retrospective as well as prospective, and, moreover 7 
he alone is endowed with affections, both moral and social, 
the emotive warmth of which nourish the ardent love 
which it is the privilege of Philoprogenitiveness to en- 
gender. 

The few following examples will serve to illustrate that. 
fact. 

The scull of the poet, Burns, which was exhumed more 
that twenty years ago at Dumfries, and recommitted to its 
last earthly resting place after a faithful cast of it had 
been taken, exhibits a protuberant organ of Philoprogeni- 



PHILOPROGENITIVENESS. G9 

tiveness, and the feeling, of which that is undoubtedly 
the symbol, was a marked feature of his disposition. 

The same organ is small, and even somewhat depressed, 
in the fine scull of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, called 

■ the " Good Duke Humphrey," who, while his nephew, 
Henry the Sixth, was a minor, was guardian of the 
kingdom, in consequence of the absence of Ins elder 
brother, Bedford, the Regent, who was then carrying on 

■Avar against Charles the Seventh of France, and in which 
war, after many successful achievements, he was foiled 
' through the almost miraculous interposition of the enthu- 
- siastic and patriotic Maid of Orleans, and by the rupture 
of his alliance with the Duke of Burgundy, which was 

■ caused by Humphrey's rash pertinacity in seeking for the 
hand and the inheritance of Jacqueline of Bavaria. The 
form of this scull is fine, and it is in all its features a 
marked instance of the truthfulness of Phrenology. And 
may it not be surmised, therefore, that carelessness in the 
display of warm affection for his infant nephew and 

.sovereign, owing to the smallness of this organ, had 
exposed him to the suspicion of disloyalty, which was 
raised against him by his jealous and implacable enemies 
(see Plates 5 and 11). 

Like Burns, George Crabbe, the poet, was a striking 
example of parental love, and the same organ is very 
salient in the cast of his head (see Plate 2). In the scull 
of Swedenborg this organ projects greatly, and he was 
very fond of children. 



INHABITIVENESS 



Amongst those instinctive domestic affections, which 
mankind inherits in common with animals, the sense of 
local attachment is one which exercises a powerful and 
salutary influence upon the welfare of society ; and that 
it is a feeling distinct from all others there is abundant 
evidence to show. But, though its essence is unchangeable,, 
its form and complexion become — the one more expanded 
and vigorous, the other more bright and glowing, both 
of them more heart-felt and enduring, according to the 
strength and character of the feelings which may, on 
special occasions, be acting in concert with it. The fond 
remembrances engendered by parental and fraternal love, - 
and fostered by affectionate attachments, as well as by 
reverence for what has passed away, fill the heart with an . 
intensity of emotion on revisiting one's native home, 
even though its deserted and desolate state should render 
those emotions sorrowful in the extreme, which the mere 
sense of attachment to a casual dwelling-place, without 
such joyful associations, could never produce. Again 
the sense of local attachment, expanded into the love of 
one's native home, assumes still more sublime dimensions 
when it manifests itself in an intense love of one's native 
land. 

What a beautiful and pathetic description of this affection 
of the mind is to be found in Oliver Goldsmith's exqui- - 



INHABITIVENESS. 71 

site poem, " The Deserted Village." And Homer himself 
denounces any man who loves not the land of his birth, as 
being devoid of all the social affections and of every other 
good quality, and brands him, indelibly, with the stainful 
name of heartless outcast. 

Sir Walter Scott, admirable in everything, both moral 
and intellectual, shows his sense of the heartlessness of 
such a man in a passage commencing thus — 

" Breathes there a man with sotil so dead, 
Who ne'er unto himself has said, 
This is my own, my native land." 

The following lines of Thomas Moore's were prompted 
by this feeling, when acting with a high degree of 
intensity — 

" Wert thou all that I wish thee, great, glorious, and free, 
First flower of the earth and first gem of the sea, 
I could hail thee with prouder, with happier brow, 
But oh ! coidd I love thee more deeply than now ? " 

It is obvious that this feeling is a stimulating ingredient 
in the composition of a virtuous, unselfish, patriotic mind. 
Its existence is, in some degree, essential to the stability 
of nations. Without it the tendency to wander from 
place to place would be a hindrance to the permanent 
settlement of communities of men in particular localities ; 
if, indeed, the desire to possess property in land, and the 
disposition and industry to cultivate it, did not, of them- 
selves, serve to counteract nomadic tendencies. Still it 
should not be inferred from the wandering habits of some 
tribes of men that they must necessarily be deficient in 
the love of home and country. For the Arab of the 
desert loves his native land, though he is an habitual 
wanderer. But may not his roving disposition be attributed 



72 INHABITIVENESS. 

to the utter barrenness of his country, which affords no 
field for the cultivation of the soil, and not to the weak- 
ness of the sense of attachment to a particular place of 
residence. Neither can it be thought, in the Arabian's 
case, to proceed from want of intellectual capacity. The 
Australian tribes, in whose sculls the organ now under 
consideration is commonly well developed, seem to be 
permanently attached to a certain range of country ; but 
they frequently shift their habitations, though, unlike the 
Arabian desert, their land is productive. This instability 
is caused by the natural poverty of their intellectual 
faculties, which renders habits of industry irksome to an 
extreme degree. And the form of the native Australian 
brain is in palpable accordance with this marked mental 
inferiority. 

That attachment to one's native home is quite distinct 
from the sense of attachment to relations and friends, is 
well exemplified in the conduct of a poor but decent 
widow, a native of Limerick, of the peasant class. When 
considerably advanced in life, this woman was induced 
to emigrate with some of her nearest relations to the 
United States. There, by their industry, her life was 
rendered comfortable. But after some years her longing 
to come home was so great that her friends consented 
to let her go, and she returned. But after the lapse 
of some time, when a fresh " exodus " was taking place, 
she again emigrated from a fond yearning to see 
once more her beloved relations. With them she stayed 
until the greatness of her age clearly showed that 
her end was approaching. Then it was that her ruling 
passion was evinced in its palpable distinctness ; for 
she insisted on returning to her native place to see' it 
once more and die there, in order that her remains 



INHABITIVENESS. 73 

should be commingled with, its soil. But, seeing the 
affectionate Celtic nature of this woman, whose name 
was Connor, it is probable that fond recollections of 
beloved ones, long since dead, might give rise to a desire 
to be united with them in the grave, for thus she would 
be satisfying two dominant attributes of her nature — 
attachment to her native home and love for her blood 
relations. 

So intensely affecting is this primitive feeling that even 
suicide has been recorded as the result of its irreparable 
disappointment. Some years ago a case of the kind 
happened in London. 

During the coronership of Mr. Wakley, an inquest was 
held on the body of an old woman who had committed 
self-destruction ; and the only motive to which the act 
could be ascribed by her associates was the fact of her 
having fallen into a state of intense grief when she ascer- 
tained that the house which she had for a long time 
inhabited was about to be pulled down. 

The separate existence of this feeling being obviously 
an indubitable fact, there must be a special organ to 
manifest it. Where should we expect to find this organ ? 
Where so likely as in the midst of those of the domestic 
affections, that are located in the back of the head ? It 
was amongst them that Gall discovered it ; and it is 
there that Spurzheim, Combe, and all subsequent investi- 
gators have found it. It lies just above Philoprogeni- 
tiveness, and below Self-esteem, and it has Adhesiveness 
•on each side of it. Its convolutions touch, also, upon 
Love of Approbation. It is sometimes flat and sometimes 
protuberant, and bears no fixed proportion to any of the 
organs with which it is surrounded. 

Several remarkable examples of the invariable connexion 



74 INHABITIVENESS. 

which exists between a protuberant development of this 
organ and an ardent sense of local attachment shall now 
be given. And it is especially worthy of note that some 
of them afford palpable and demonstrable evidence of 
the erroneousness of the hypothesis which has attributed 
to this organ the important mental attribute called Con- 
centrativeness, or that talent which empowers an individual 
to concentrate and harmoniously combine, in unity of 
action, two or even more of the intellectual faculties, so 
far as to bring them to bear, with co-operative energy, 
on some one special object. 

An artisan in the employment of the late Mr. Deville, 
of the name of Lydiard, was endowed with a very large 
development of the organ in question ; and he was equally 
remarkable for the uncommon strength of his attachment 
to a house which he had lived in for some years. 

To better his condition he was, with much reluctance, 
induced to sell this house. He then settled himself (as 
he fancied for the rest of his days) in a place far more 
suited to his wants. But he soon got tired of his new 
abode. And, so imperious did his unreasonable longing 
to get back to his old residence become, that he could 
not rest until he prevailed on the person then in possession 
of it to give it up to him, even though the premium he 
had to pay was much larger than the sum he had himself 
got for it. But, on the other hand, so utterly destitute 
was this poor man of the talent of concentrating his 
faculties towards the perspicuous elucidation of an in- 
cident which was entirely free from complicated details,, 
that he very narrowly escaped the suspicion of being a 
prevaricator, and even the censure of the magistrate at 
Bow Street, while giving evidence as parish constable 
respecting something which happened in the street on the- 



INHABITIVENESS. 75 

previous night. And yet it is true that this man bore an 
honest name in all his dealings (see Plate 8). 

The organ is extremely large, also, in the cast of Joseph 
Hill, a porter in Mr. Deville's service. Yet this man's 
total inability to concentrate and arrange his ideas was 
strikingly apparent to those with whom he conversed. 
So marked, indeed, was his incapacity "to maintain two 
or more powers in simultaneous and combined activity, 
so that they maybe directed towards one object," that he 
could not be entrusted to carry two messages at the same 
time, for he was almost, in every instance, likely to 
confound them. A striking instance this to shew that 
the faculty of intellectual concentration does not depend 
upon the action of this part of the brain, as some have 
supposed. But in regard to the sense of local attach- 
ment no one could feel more intensely. On one occasion, 
when this man was dusting busts in Deville's gallery, 
and I happened to be there, he brought me a cast of his 
own head, and asked me what I thought of a small 
excrescence which lay near this organ. Here he was 
evidently blundering as to the identity of the organ. 
Having told him that it was only a wen, and that it had 
nothing to do with the character of the mind, I called his 
attention to the remarkable prominence of the part lying 
just beneath Self-esteem, and asked him how he felt at 
leaving a house in which he had for some time resided. 
He said that he had felt sorrowful at having to change 
his place of abode, that he had had two lodgings for 
thirty years, that he had lived only two years in the first, 
and that he was still living in the second, which was a 
wretched one, yet he preferred to stop in it, he said, 
rather than change it for a more comfortable place. Oitj 
my having asked him why he left the first place so soon,. 



76 INHABITIVENESS. 

his strange reply was that he believed there was a devil 
in it, and, but for that, he thought he should have stayed 
there to the day of his death. 

The cast of Sir James Scarlett, afterwards Lord 
Abinger, affords a striking contrast to those of Hill and 
Lydiarcl. Yet it presents additional evidence of the 
fallacy of the notions entertained by phrenologists, re- 
specting the concentrating power said to be an attribute 
of this organ. It once happened that Deville, who took 
this cast himself, was so struck by the relative smallness 
of this particular portion of that large and well-formed 
head, that he drew the attention of some leading barristers, 
who used to go the same assize circuit with Sir James, 
io the fact, and stated at the same time that he felt 
assured the function of this organ was nothing more than 
the sense of local attachment, though some conjectured, 
and many would insist, that it was the instigator and 
supporter of intellectual concentration. This case, said 
they, certainly corroborates your conviction, for brother 
Scarlett was remarkable for his disinclination to return, 
during assize time, to apartments which he had previously 
occupied, whilst, on the other hand, he was universally 
considered by his legal brethren to possess more con- 
centrated adroitness and tact than any man at the Bar 
in seeing the proper moment to stop in the direct exam- 
ination of his own witnesses, so as to elicit as much 
information as would serve to establish his client's case, 
without going so far as to afford an opportunity to his 
opponents of benefitting much by cross-examination. As 
a nisi prius pleader he certainly held the first place. Let 
this signal fact be compared with the remarkable cases of 
Hill and Lydiard, and then it cannot fail to be seen how 
baseless is the fabric of which this hypothesis, as regards 



INHABITIVENESS. I ( 

Coneentrativeness, consists ; and how heterogeneous and 
incongruous are the ingredients of which it is composed. 

It may be interesting to add that in the cast from 
nature of the late Sir John Franklin the same part of the 
head is but very moderately developed. And it is not 
improbable that, at his advanced time of life, he would 
not have ventured on his last and fatal expedition had he 
been endowed with a large development of the organ of 
the Love of Home, notwithstanding his hopeful and en- 
terprising disposition, as well as his instinctive passion 
for exploring strange places, engendered by a very large 
development of the organ of Locality. And it is to be 
noted that the faculty of intellectual concentration was 
possessed, in no common measure, by this skilful com- 
mander and director of the actions of several men in the 
most perilous and cheerless situations, and the esteemed 
literary narrator of his own adventures. 

The organ of Inhabitiveness is exceedingly prominent 
in the cast of an enterprising sailor of the name of Lycle, 
who was master of one of Enderby's whalers ; and so 
remarkably strong was his attachment to his accustomed 
habitation that, when he was only a mate, he refused to 
accept the command of a ship far superior to his own, 
rather than leave the one he had served in from the 
commencement of his maritime career; and which, he 
said, he looked upon as his home. After waiting in his 
subordinate position for three years, he was gratified 
with having the command of his favourite ship conferred 
upon him. When Deville was preparing to take a cast 
of his head, Lyde further said that what he had always 
longed for most was to get together as much money as 
would enable him to return in a state of moderate 
independence to his native place; and that he was then 



78 INHABITIVENESS. 

going to spend the rest of Ills days there. His younger 
brother, who was present, said he never could account 
for his brother's attachment to a particular ship. All 
ships, allowing for their quality, were the same to him ; 
and he would consider it great folly on his own part to 
refuse promotion as his brother had done. In the cast 
of this young man the organ of Inhabitiveness, as 
Spurzheim has denominated it, is but moderately de- 
veloped (see Plate 8). 

To maintain one's equilibrium in high and perilous 
positions was supposed by some to be a function of this 
organ, because it was found to be very prominent in 
the celebrated equestrian, Ducrow. But as both these 
brothers were equally noted for the capability of main- 
taining their balance in the highest part of the rigging, 
even in a heavy gale, this conjecture, also, was based on 
an insecure foundation. It may be remarked here that 
the development of the organ of Weight, or of the sense 
of equilibrium, was very large in these two brothers. 

At the risk of unnecessarily accumulating affirmative 
evidence, I cannot refrain from adducing one instance 
more of the invariable coincidence of ardent love of one's 
native place and a very large development of this portion 
of the brain ; especially as the cast referred to is an 
interesting test of the truth of Phrenology in a variety 
of its phases. The case fell under the notice of that 
acute observer and most skilful practical phrenologist, 
Deville, about forty years ago, at a public exhibition of 
the extraordinary musical performance of the Infant 
Lyra on the harp. After Deville had made some re- 
marks upon the fine development of the organs which 
impart a genius for music in the head of that child, a 
gentleman present (Markwick by name) said " he 






INHABITIVENESS. 79 

wondered how any one could believe in such stuff as 
Craniology." Deville observed that that remark ap- 
plied to himself in an especial manner ; for he had already 
spent much of his time and considerable sums of money 
in accumulating facts with a view of testing the truth 
of the science. "And," said he, addressing the objector, 
" I venture to say, sir, that you have a strong propen- 
sity for travelling." After admitting the truth of the 
prognostic, this person asked if there were any other 
propensities of his nature which could be discovered by 
ihis "bumps." After examining his head, which was a 
very fine one, and telling him he was a man capable of 
making his way through the world successfully, even if 
left solely to his own resources, Deville said he per- 
ceived a very large development of a part of the head, 
the true function of which was not then thoroughly 
established, but which he himself looked upon as the 
organ of the Love of one's Native Place ; and then told 
him that this was a propensity which was likely to clash 
with his strong desire to travel. " Well," said the other, 
• a I will now tell you that at eight years of age I was 
left to shift for myself; and that in that trying posi- 
tion I have always instinctively striven to conduct 
myself as you say I am naturally disposed to do. 
And I have been successful in my undertakings. 
My propensity to travel is great. I have been several 
times to Canton in a ship of my own, without being 
under the necessity of going there at all; and have seen 
most parts of Europe. But yet my delight in travelling 
was marred by a feeling which sometimes resembled 
home-sickness; for, if I felt seriously unwell while 
abroad, I was unhappy at the possibility of my never 
again beholding my native country ; the shores of which 



80 INHABITIVENESS. 

I never quitted without looking Lack towards them, like 
Lot's wife, with sorrowful emotion." This good man's 
sense of local attachment was so dominant a feature of 
his character, that he never left without regret places 
where he had rested but for a short time (see Plate 2). 

In this case the organ of Locality was extremely large, 
and that of Inhabitiveness was one of the largest to be 
met with in Deville's collection of nearly three thousand 
casts of heads and sculls. From the orifice of the ear 
to the centre of the organ measured six inches, while 
five inches included the same region in the head of the 
lamented Sir John Franklin. 

Indeed it is admitted by all phrenologists that the 
sense of local attachment is without doubt a function of 
this part of the brain. 

Some, however, of the most distinguished of them- 
have, as has been already noticed, long held the con- 
viction that there inhered in this same cerebral region 
the faculty of intellectual concentration. 

It will be seen at once that there does not exist tlie 
slightest affinity between the simple affection of man's 
animal nature, called Inhabitiveness, and the high intel- 
lectual qualities that have been and still are supposed, 
by many to depend upon the salient development of this 
one organ. 

Seeing this irreconcilable discrepancy, the advocates of 
the existence of a single organ, specially devoted to the 
combination and harmonious association of the intellectual 
powers, and which they have denominated Concentra- 
tiveness, were forced to conclude that the portion of the 
brain which occupies the space between the organs of 
Self-esteem and Philoprogenitiveness must consist of 
two organs instead of one, as they at first supposed. 



INHABITIVENESS. 81 

And they now positively aver that that of Concentra- 
tiveness lies next to Self-esteem, and just over Inhabi- 
tiveness. 

But when it is a palpable fact, as may be seen by means 
of authentic diagrams, that the upper portion is only of 
moderate size in the head of Fuseli, the famous painter 
and lecturer on art ; and in Denon, the artist, traveller, 
and successful author ; and in Benjamin Constant, the 
orator and leading political writer; and in Scarlett, the 
renowned lawyer and advocate ; and in Godwin, the 
deep-thinking and strikingly imaginative philosopher and 
novelist, whose subtle and refined casuistry was made 
clear by the eloquent perspicuousness of his style, even to 
minds of ordinary comprehension — when such facts as 
these present themselves the reason for the sub-division 
of this organ falls to the ground. Nor can its resuscita- 
tion be ever hoped for, when it is a well attested fact 
that the same region of the head, both in the upper and 
lower portion of it, has been found to be extremely large 
in persons who possessed not one of the mental qualities 
which have been thought by some phrenologists to be 
the necessary result of the largeness of this part, except 
the sense of local attachment — a propensity which was 
manifested, in some instances, to a preposterous extent, 
as has been already demonstrated. When such is the case 
a thorough conviction of the inaccuracy of the notion 
which led to the sub-division of the organ in question, 
must strike every inquirer. 

It is well to note that this particular region of the 
head is very prominent in the fine busts of the celebrated 
Lord Chesterfield and the poet Pope, by Rubilliac, and 
that it is very large also in those of Lords Mansfield, 
Erskine, by Nollekens, as well as in those 

I 



82 INHABITIVENESS. 

of O'Connell, Thomas Moore, and Henry Grattan, in-, 
Henry Flood and Lord Plunkett, in Canning, Huskisson, 
Sheridan, and Sir W. Scott, and in the casts and busts of" 
a vast number of other renowned, intellectual characters. 
Granting this to be really true, are the advocates of this- 
organ of Concentrativeness entitled to produce these 
instances as facts in proof of their theory? By no- 
means is such an assumption to be allowed by any one, 
who will have carefully examined and weighed the 
incontrovertible testimony afforded by the facts already 
stated and demonstrated. And can there be the slightest 
doubt that these leading spirits of their time were warmly 
and patriotically devoted to the service of their native- 
land. And is it not reasonable to suppose that they were- 
men who felt strongly attached to their birth-place, and 
even to their habitual place of abode? An anecdote- 
told of one of the greatest and most patriotic of them 
all is an interesting attestation that the love of home, 
of one's own fireside, blazing in some specially beloved 
locality, was, in all probability, characteristic of all of 
them. 

It happened on a time, when Henry Grattan was en- 
tertaining some friends at his beautiful seat, Tinnahinch 
near Bray, that the conversation turned on the salubrity 
of the spring water of certain country places, and a. 
decided preference having been awarded to one of them, 
Grattan suddenly left the room, and in a short time was- 
seen coining at a quick pace up the lawn, bareheaded, 
with his grey hairs blown about by the wind, carrying a 
glass of water in his hand, and in a moment after he 
rushed into the parlor almost out of breath, and said, 
" Come now, taste this water from the Tinnahinch spring" 
well, and you will find that finer water cannot be met 



INHABITIVENESS. 83 

with anywhere." Well might the brief but eloquent 
eulogium which he once passed upon Charles James Fox 
be applied to himself, namely, " His heart was as soft as 
a woman's, his intellect was adamant." 

Upon an impartial estimate of the facts, which have 
been just narrated, can doubt rest upon the mind of 
any one as to the real function of this organ, or that the 
talent of intellectual concentration is altogether inde- 
pendent of its concurrence. Yet it is in one respect an 
organ of concentrativeness. For instance, the intense 
love of home — of the land of their birth — evinced by 
some of the above-named men, stimulated them to con- 
centrate their intellectual faculties towards the point, 
out of which might be extracted the most potent means 
of rendering their country contented, prosperous, and 
respected, both at home and abroad. But, even here, it is 
only an active incentive to the production of intellectual 
concentration, and not a necessary ingredient in the 
assemblage of organs upon the combined and harmonious 
action of which concentration of the intellectual faculties 
depends, as will, by-and-bye, be clearly proved to be an 
unquestionable fact : and it is well to state here that this 
assemblage of harmoniously-balanced organs was a marked 
feature of the foreheads of these great men. 

Indeed, the region of the head which we are now con- 
sidering has no more claim to the rank of a concentrator of 
the intellectual powers than any other predominating organ. 
A large organ of Ideality, or the sense of poetic beauty, for 
instance, in unison with lofty sentiments and ardent feelings 
concentrated the whole mind of Burns upon the composition 
of poetry, while he was laboriously following the plough. 
Bloomfield, in the shoemaker's garret, and poor John 
Clare, on the farmer's threshing floor, were led by an over- 

12 



84 INHABITIVENESS. 

powering instinct to pursue the same course. Whilst 
the strictly utilitarian form of Cobbett's intellectual or- 
gans, with a scanty development of Ideality, caused him 
to concentrate his talents, while on duty as military 
sentinel, in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of 
English grammar, a thing which he felt was essential 
to the effectual promotion of such useful objects as were 
suggested by his practical but unpoetical genius. And 
did not the illiterate peasant, Jedediah Buxton, as has 
been already noticed, evince, on witnessing the inimi- 
table acting of Grarrick in one of his most affecting 
characters, how powerfully concentrative the organ of 
Arithmetical computation becomes, when, owing to its 
paramount size, it exercises an absorbing influence over 
the mind. That the organ of Language may act as a con- 
centrating organ is clearly seen in the case of the poor 
Welsh sawyer, Jones, the self-taught master of sixteen 
languages, or more. So concentrated were the faculties 
of this helpless poor man upon the study of languages, 
that he completely lost sight of those " accessories" which 
were essential to the procuring of the bare necessaries of 
life. 

It was the singularly large organ of Language in the 
heads of Buffon, Voltaire, Hume, and Gibbon, that caused 
them to concentrate their rare intellectual faculties upon 
literature. But the extremely large organs of Indivi- 
duality and Eventuality of Buffon also concentrated his 
powerful intellect with the view of acquiring a knowledge 
of the objects of the universe in all their minuteness of 
detail. He was, therefore, less exclusively devoted to 
what was purely literary than his celebrated countryman, 
Voltaire, in whose bust, Individuality, or the sense of 
material things, is comparatively of moderate size. But, 






INHABITIVENESS. 85 

if language acted as a stimulator or concentrator in these 
instances, it was to the concentrating influence of a very- 
large organ of Music that the enchanting creations of 
those masters of song, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and 
Beethoven, are to be attributed. And in the sublime 
and beautiful creations of the genius of Eaphael and 
Michael Angelo we find that large organs of Form, 
Colour, and Constructiveness are the concentrators of their 
mental faculties, in/order to display in painting, sculpture, 
and architecture the noble thoughts which inspired them. 
And one may be permitted to add that not even a tyro in 
the practical department of Phrenology, on seeing the 
heads of Daniel Maclise and William Vincent Wallace, 
could be led to suppose that the refined and graceful 
genius of Wallace would be concentrated upon the deli- 
neation of dramatically expressive human forms, whether 
they are used to tell an affecting incident in the story 
of Hamlet, or to depict with great force and beauty the 
heroic career of William the Conqueror; or that the 
genius of Maclise would lead him to concentrate his in- 
tellectual powers upon the composition of such charming 
operas as Maritana and Lurline. 

A beautiful instance of the powerful influence of terror, 
which is the painful result of the intense action of the 
organ of Cautiousness, in concentrating the mental faculties 
upon a single object, to the utter exclusion of every other, 
is afforded by the genius of Shakespeare, in the banquet 
scene in Macbeth. Nothing can exceed in earnestness 
the concentrated attention which that usurper directs to 
the ghost of Banquo. His faculties are so rivetted upon 
the object of his apprehensions, that he is not only heedless 
of the presence of his guests, but insensible of the remon- 
strances and rebukes of his more determined and less 



8G INHABITIVENESS. 

remorseful lady, so long as the apparition remains in his 
presence. But upon its disappearance he recovers his 
self-possession, and exclaims, " Why so ? Being gone, I 
am a man again." And it is then only he gives ear to the 
voice of Lady Macbeth, when she whispers, " You have 
displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting with most 
admired disorder." He is now sufficiently collected to 
allude to the cause of his perturbation in these words — 

" Can such things be and overcome us like a summer cloud 
Without our special wonder ? You make me strange 
Even to the disposition that I owe, 
"When now I think you can behold such sights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 
"When mine is blanched with fear." 

It is also thought by some that this organ, when it is 
large, renders persons " prone to sedentary habits, and 
to live, as it were, within themselves; as well as of 
keeping them habitually occupied with internal medita- 
tion, and supporting a vigorous attention ; who, in short, 
have a natural facility of concentrating their thoughts. 
Who possess a command over their intel- 
lectual powers ; so as to be able to apply them in their 
whole region to the pursuit which forms the object of 
their study for the time ; and who, in consequence, 
produce the greatest possible results from the intellectual 
endowment which nature has bestowed on them." 

It will be useful to dwell a little on this definition, 
in order to see if any necessary connection can be found 
to exist between the intellectual qualities just described 
and a proneness to sedentary habits. 

Undoubtedly a proneness to sedentary habits leads to 
internal meditation; and a meditative tendency is con- 



INHABITIVENESS. S7 

-ducive to a sedentary life; and the habitual turning of 
the mind inward upon itself, or of directing it with 
vigour to the contemplation of other objects, increases 
its power and efficiency : but it does not follow from 
this that the organ of the Love of Home, which naturally 
would impart a tendency to become sedentary — assuming, 
for the present, that such is the result of the action of 
a single organ only — is also that which enables one to 
combine and arrange the ideas so as to render them 
eminently useful : for it is quite certain that many 
persons of sedentary habits are by no means remarkable 
.for vigour of understanding, or the capacity of rapidly 
■combining and concentrating such intellectual faculties 
as they may possess, even though they are endowed 
with good reflecting powers. On the other hand, it 
would be strange, indeed, if the decided smallness of 
this organ, which, in accordance with its intrinsic char- 
acter, would cause persons to experience " difficulty in 
settling," were also followed by a strong inclination in 
.individuals to engage in some active employment, in 
which " their attention shall be carried, as it were, out 
of themselves, and be occupied in external objects and 
occurrences;" whilst at the same time, its smallness is 
thought to render them u unable to keep the leading 
idea in becoming prominence, by causing their thoughts 
to be lost in dissipation," and to te incapacitate them for 
combining their whole powers to a single object ; " and 
.also to mar the concentrated directness of their mental 
productions " by the intrusion of irrelevant ideas, and 
the unperceived omission of important particulars, arising 
from the disjointed action of their several faculties." 

Certainly the incapacity for combining and concen- 
trating the ideas is compatible with the existence, in the 



88 INHABITIVENESS. 

same individual, of unsettled habits, and a desire to be- 
engaged in the pursuit of external objects and occur- 
rences. But before it can be admitted that all these- 
mental manifestations are the result of the functions of 
a single organ of the mind, it must be shown that a. 
desire to be engaged in external objects and occurrences is. 
always accompanied by a deficiency of power to combine 
the ideas and to direct them with vigour to a particular 
object. It will not be deemed presumptuous to say that 
the existence of such a state of things is utterly impos- 
sible. It is at variance with all that history teaches 
us. If such were the case, where would now be the 
admirable Commentaries of Julius Cassar? — who was,, 
perhaps, the most perfectly concentrated embodiment of 
great versatile talents for active employment that has 
ever appeared in the world — whose literary capacity was 
hardly surpassed by his genius in the art of war. 

What powers of intellectual concentration and combi- 
nation were possessed by the restless yet contemplative 
Charles the Fifth of Spain, by Peter the Great and 
Frederic of Prussia, by Gustavus Adolphus and Wall en- 
stein, by Cromwell and Napoleon ; and by those political 
churchmen Pope Julius the Second and the aspiring 
Richelieu — to the latter of whom may with truth be 
applied the words used by the poet Lucan in delineating 
the character of the greatest of the Caesars, Nil actum 
reputans si quid superesset agendum. These extraordinary 
men were all their lives occupied with external circum- 
stances. Their powers of intellectual concentration were 
of the highest kind. 

Should it be said that these great men were so circum- 
stanced that they were compelled, whether they willed it 
or not, to devote all their mental energies to the conduct 



INHABITIVENESS. 89' 

of public affairs, and that, owing to that state of things, 
they could not pursue the tranquil exigencies of a seden- 
tary life, even though the organ now under discussion 
were predominantly developed in each of them; and that, 
such cases afforded no demonstrable testimony subversive 
of this hypothesis. 

Now, as the position of this organ cannot be seen in the 
authentic portraits of these men, no exact information as 
to the value of that surmise can be adduced from that 
source ; although the parts of the forehead, wherein lie 
the salient springs, whence issue, in reality, those faculties 
which have been too hastily ascribed to the paramount 
influence of this single organ, are abundantly manifested 
in them, and in all others endowed with superior talents, 
as shall be, by-and-bye, demonstrated. 

But the advocate of Phrenology, who has been untiring 
in his researches, and whose memory is tenacious of 
whatever facts he has seen, and who has conscientiously 
tested them at Nature's truthful shrine, is never, in any 
case, restricted within the bounds of conjectural evidence, 
as shall now be shewn by testimony as truthful as it is 
palpable. 

This organ is very large in the scull of King Robert 
Bruce, whose life was passed wholly and without irksome- 
ness in the active conduct of public affairs, and in heroic 
efforts to render his country independent. It is compara- 
tively small in the scull of King Edward the Second, who 
could not be brought, even in pressing emergencies, to give 
attention to political occurrences, and, with apathetic 
indifference as to the adverse current of State affairs which 
threatened to overwhelm him, he abandoned himself to. 
intellectual indolence, and a craving for social indulgences 
in the society of a beloved favourite. 



90 INHABITIVENESS. 

Now, though the organ called Concentrativeness by 
some is small in the scull of Edward, it cannot be denied 
that he pursued the gratification of his desires with 
unthinking obstinacy and intense concentration of feeling 
and of thought. But though obstinacy naturally shoots 
up from the stubborn stock of firmness, its roots were 
implanted in his case in the more plastic soil of the social 
attachments, for in his scull the organ of Firmness is very 
small. The form of Bruce's scull indicates that he too 
was capable of loving his friend ; but yet he loved his 
country more. Still his well-attested love, of his native 
land bore in its composition a marked proportion of that 
potent ingredient — self-interest, with which the passive 
character of the unhappy Edward was not, in any osten- 
:.sible measure, imbued. And it is well to note here that 
this diversity of character arose from the largeness of 
Self-esteem in Bruce, and the smallness of that organ in 
Edward. 

This organ is not a salient feature in the scull of 
Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the brother of the hero 
of Agincourt. And yet no one would venture to say that 
Bruce, in whose head the organ was so much larger, 
was more abundantly endowed with the high intellectual 
qualities, which have been erroneously conjectured to 
be commensurate with the development of this part of 
the brain, than the good Duke Humphrey. Indeed, the 
^superior size and the harmonious combination of the 
organs of the intellectual faculties in the scull of 
Gloucester precludes the possibility of any one's enter- 
taining such an opinion. Nevertheless, the ample size of 
the organs of Cautiousness and Secretiveness in Bruce's 
Jiead rendered him habitually wary and circumspect, 
-and powerfully assisted his intellect in inventing those 



INHABITIVENESS. 91 

subtle devices to which he so often owed his personal 
safety, and ultimately the attainment of his crown. 
While the relative deficiency of these organs in 
Humphrey's head, especially that of Caution, combined 
with an organ of Conscientiousness, much superior to 
the same organ in Bruce, caused him, unlike Bruce, to 
be often wanting in an adequate amount of tact, and 
exposed him, through the unreserved openness, and 
sometimes headstrong impetuosity, of his character, to 
the fatal machinations of his more wily and inveterate 
enemies. But though the organ we are considering is 
only moderate in his head, he was remarkable among the 
leading men of his time for the concentrated compre- 
hensiveness of his understanding, his literary accomplish- 
ments, his eloquence, his administrative ability and 
activity as a statesman ; and it must be allowed that 
he pursued his design of gaining the hand and inheri- 
-tance of Jacqueline of Bavaria, contrary to the sage 
remonstrance of his more circumspect and less ambi- 
tious brother, Bedford, the Regent of France, with 
•concentrative intellectual and moral energy which very 
few even of the most renowned men in history could 
-cope with (see Plate 5). 

This part of the head is extremely large in a cast from 
nature of the Right Hon. William Huskisson ; and yet 
he preferred to employ his fine talents in the management 
of important affairs of State, notwithstanding the turmoil 
of political life, than to continue in the tranquil pursuits 
of medical science. While the same part is comparatively 
moderate in size in the cast of William Godwin, who, 
after having delivered a few admirable sermons as a 
public preacher, forsook the cassock, and, though prone 
to engage in political disquisitions, gave himself up, of 



92 INHABITIVENESS. 

his own instinctive accord, to a sedentary life of literary 
retirement and comparative seclusion. Nor could any- 
one who saw him, on a fine summer's day, slowly walking 
in St. James's Park, fail to be impressed with the con- 
viction that his mind was characteristically meditative, 
and comparatively heedless of what was external to 
himself. 

In the cast from nature of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 
who was a remarkable instance of a restless desire to 
become minutely acquainted with everything passing 
around him, and also to be mixed up in the conduct 
of public affairs, this organ is, on the contrary, large. 
All these men were noted for possessing the faculty of 
intellectual concentration. But can it be said that 
Godwin, with the small organ, had less of the concen- 
trative talent than any of the others in whom the organ 
was large (see Plates 1 and 11). 

And, further, it may be averred, as the result of a law 
of the mind, that an intellect, like Godwin's, which was 
essentially contemplative, would almost of necessity lead 
its possessor to choose a sedentary mode of living, from 
a consciousness that his intellectual faculties were better 
adapted to shine in the secluded temple of literature than 
in the public arena of active life, even though this organ 
were small, whilst the superior aptitude of the compara- 
tively uncontemplative genius of Sheridan for concen- 
trating his thoughts upon outward objects and occurrences, 
and of rendering them, in a high degree, subservient to 
the successful elucidation of his subject, would naturally 
withhold him from giving way to sedentary occupations, 
though his literary talents might, occasionally, awaken a 
yearning for retirement. It would be likely to lead to 
error, therefore, to infer from the largeness or smallness. 






INHABITIVENESS. 93 

of this organ that an individual shall be prone to spend 
his time in sedentary occupations or not, without first 
taking into view other leading mental characteristics. 
Neither should it be supposed that a scanty development 
■ of this organ would in any way render a person averse to 
a sedentary occupation, notwithstanding the well-ascer- 
tained fact that smallness of the part evinces the absence 
of any tendency to remain sedentary as to habitation. 
JFor example, the large head of the late celebrated com- 
poser of music, William Vincent Wallace, with its fine 
intellectual development, was comparatively small in the 
ipart occupied by the organ of Local Attachment, and 
though he loved to roam to the remotest regions of the 
world, and in his habits appeared to be disinclined to 
dwell for more than a short time in any place, yet he 
rejoiced in the indefatigable pursuit of a delightful 
sedentary intellectual employment, in which he displayed 
much power in concentrating two or more mental faculties 
in order to produce the harmonious combination of his 
ideas. 

It has been thought that to render emotions permanent 
is also a function of this single organ. Surely this opinion 
rests upon an insecure foundation. Emotions are as 
various as the feelings which awaken them, and the emo- 
tional intensity of a feeling is commensurate with the 
superior size and activity of its own organ. The pheno- 
mena of dreaming will serve to illustrate this. During 
sleep some feelings, from their being recently in a state of 
intense activity, keep their respective organs in the brain 
wakeful and even restlessly energetic, and thus are 
particular emotions prolonged, while all others lie dor- 
mant. But who would ever think to maintain that the 
permanence, during sleep, of the emotions of pride or 



94 INHABITIVENESS. 

humility, of courageous enterprise or terror, of glory or 
shame, of grief or joy, depends upon the presence of this 
one organ in its state of somnolence. 

It is hardly necessary to adduce tangible evidence in 
corroboration of this argument. But yet it may be- 
satisfactory to add that the emotion of attachment, 
glowing in the breast of King Edward the Second for 
his favourite Gaveston, was as permanent as an emotion 
could be. And yet, as has been already seen, this organ 
is small in his scull. It is small in the scull of the 
missionary priest in Egypt, whom Den on extols for the 
Christian purity and holiness of his life, and certainly 
there was no lack of great benevolent and devotional 
emotion in his conduct and manners. And, except in 
some cases of monstrous artificial distortion, all the- 
Peruvian sculls of the Inca race that I have seen, and 
taken in outline, were small and flat at this part of the 
head, and yet the reverence of that people for their Incas- 
amounted to a powerful and enduring emotion. A fact 
which is to be attributed to the predominant development 
of the organ of Veneration, supported by a characteristic 
organ of Hope. 

It has been, I trust, clearly shown that the mental 
qualities, said by most phrenologists to depend upon the 
presence of this organ, are incompatible ; and been 
demonstrated, also, in a sufficiently copious series of 
authentic facts, selected from a vast number of others, 
equally conclusive, that the strength of those qualities,, 
even if they were compatible, could not in any measure 
be dependent upon the action of this organ. Numerous 
instances have been adduced, also, which afford evidence, 
the most trustworthy and convincing, to show that its 
true and only function is the sense of local attachment, 



INHABITIVENESS. 95' 

modified by other associated affections into the love of 
one's native home and country. Of these auxiliary 
affections, the senses of attachment to persons and 
veneration are the most genuine and unselfish. 

Such is the conviction of Gall himself, and of his- 
observant and philosophical disciple and coadjutor, 
Spurzheim. But it should be observed that Gall calls- 
this the organ of the " Instinct of Height," or that 
which prompts some animals to choose their dwellings in 
lofty regions of the earth; because he invariably found 
it very large in the wild goat, the chamois, the roebuck,, 
and other animals that inhabit high places. And he 
also says, "I do not know whether this cerebral part 
undergoes similar modifications in aquatic animals." 

Now, suppose that those animals, which dwell in 
elevated localities, are endowed with a greater promi- 
nence of this part of the brain than is possessed by those 
that inhabit the plains, or than such as burrow beneath 
the surface of the earth, are we, therefore, to assume 
that it is to the largeness of it the " instinct of height " 
is to be attributed ? Or would it not be more correct to 
think that animals which dwell in high and rugged 
mountains are naturally more averse to leave their native 
localities than those inhabiting the plains, owing to the 
superior prominence of this organ? And surely this 
characteristic prominence of the organ was bestowed 
upon the chamois and wild goat for a wise purpose. 

It was, no doubt, ordained that all places capable of 
affording sustenance to living beings should be inhabited, 
sooner or later. And from the meanest animals that 
exist, up to man with his noble qualities, it is found that 
each species is endowed with a physical constitution, 
exactly adapted to the objects by which it is naturally 



96 INHABITIVENESS. 

surrounded. Such is the case with the chamois and 
wild goat that inhabit the highest parts of lofty mountains, 
such is the condition of aquatic birds that frequent rivers 
in the lowest valleys. It is to these idiosyncracies that 
the predilection of the wild goat for dwelling in very high 
regions, and that of the horse upon the grassy plains, is 
to be attributed, and not to the action of this organ. 
Would it not be more reasonable to conclude that the 
superior endowment of it, bestowed by a wise Providence 
upon the chamois and wild goat, was designed to render 
those animals attached in a super-eminent degree to their 
native homes, in order that they should not be tempted to 
stray away to places more inviting, perhaps, but less 
suited to their necessities, than the inhospitable regions 
assigned to them for their constant abode ? The young 
duck, to the dismay of its careful foster-mother, the hen, 
soon after emerging from the egg, will run into the water, 
and it loves to dwell upon it in consequence of the natural 
adaptation of its physical constitution to an element which 
supplies it in abundance with its appropriate food, and 
not at all through the prompting of this organ. The true 
sphere of its action would be to wed this creature to some 
particular brook or sheet of water, which habit has 
rendered familiar to it, or even to the nest in which it 
is accustomed to dwell. And as to the instinct which 
prompts the timid hare to lie in the open heath, exposed 
to the snares of the hunter, and that which inspires the 
bold and wily fox to seek shelter in his den, it may be 
safely inferred that this diversity of choice, as to place 
of abode, arises from some other cerebral peculiarity, 
apart from the condition of this organ — such, for instance, 
as the largeness of Secretiveness in the fox, and its 
smallness in the hare — and that the sphere of its function 



INHABITIVENESS. 97 

is confined to the imparting of the sense of attachment 
to a particular den in the fox's case. And is it not a well 
known fact that the hare, when startled from her form, 
which is her home, will strain every nerve to return to it, 
when she is hard pressed by her pursuers? Is this effort 
of the hare caused by instinctive attachment to her usual 
habitation ? 

With regard to the conjecture of Gall, as to the 
modified action of this organ, it would seem as groundless 
to suppose that the instinct which prompts the duck to 
dwell upon the waters arises from such modified action, 
as to imagine that man, whose whole frame, to the 
minutest particle of its structure, is adapted to live upon 
land only, is guided in his choice of the land for his 
residence by the action of the same organ peculiarly 
modified. 

In mankind, undoubtedly, such cannot possibly be 
the case. And as a vast amount of incontrovertible 
evidence has been accumulated in proof of its being 
merely the organ of the sense of attachment to place in 
man as this sense is implied in the love of home, there 
can be no hesitation in feeling assured that in the lower 
animals, also, its destination is the same, whether they 
are dwellers on mountains or in valleys, on land or on 
water. 

Nevertheless, some writers on Phrenology, struck by 
the coincidence of a great development of this organ, 
and a tendency in certain wild animals to make choice 
of very elevated regions for their habitations, have been 
led to think that this part of the head would be found to 
be protuberant in persons who manifest a strong desire 
to explore high mountains. But, in disproof of this 
conclusion it is enough to shew that the organ is rather 

K 



98 INHABITIVENESS. 

small in the cast of the head of a Captain Beaufoy, 
taken by the late Mr. Deville, and pointed out by him 
as a palpable fact subversive of that theory. For it 
was the delight of the gallant captain to ascend high 
mountains. And it was also stated that he ventured 
upon at least one serial voyage. 

Does not this case shew that there is no just ground 
for supposing the "instinct of height" in animals to be 
a mode of action of this organ ? It may be well to say 
that the paramount size of the organs of Individuality, 
Eventuality, and Locality in the head of the officer just 
alluded to was enough to account for his curiosity and 
propensity to explore strange high places. 

And is not this view of the case strengthened by the 
well-known fact that the domestic cat evinces no special 
desire to dwell in lofty regions, although the organ in 
question is characteristically prominent in the scull of 
that animal ? But, on the other hand, does not this fact 
afford strong corroborative evidence of the truthfulness 
of the view taken in this essay of the simple function 
of this part of the brain, for the cat is proverbially 
attached to the house in which it has been brought up? 
And this happens irrespective of any striking fondness 
for its inmates. 

It has been observed already in this discourse that 
a very strong sense of local attachment, or "Love of 
Home," was bestowed upon some animals in order to 
reconcile them to dreary and desolate habitations, and 
to render them contented and happy. Yet it may be 
asked why it is that the wild goat, for a notable instance, 
chooses for its habitation the loftiest regions of mountains 
that are comparatively inaccessible, when it could find 
good provender for its wants in places contiguous to the 



INHABITIVENESS. 99 

liaunts of men, as happens to be the case with the 
domestic goat, in which animal also this organ is very 
protuberant. 

Is it not reasonable to infer that this characteristic 
difference as to choice of habitation depends upon a 
higher degree of docility and gentleness of disposition in 
the domestic goat ? And it is beyond all doubt that 
in the domestic goat the anterior and superior lobes of 
the brain, as these are indicated by the form of the scull 
of that animal, are far larger, both absolutely and rela- 
tively, than they are in the wild goat, although the 
entire compass of the scull of the latter is greater. 

And does not the flatness of the eagle's scull, and 
the corresponding absence of gentleness and docility in 
the disposition of that fierce bird of prey, offer a suffi- 
cient motive for his choice of a habitation, lofty enough 
to be inaccessible by human efforts, without seeking for 
the source of that tendency in the prominent develop- 
ment of the organ of " Inhabitiveness," or " The Love of 
Home." 

Surely the numerous facts quoted in this essay, and 
the inferences drawn from them, prove, beyond question, 
i that this portion of the brain consists of but one organ; 
and that the true and only function of that organ is the 
" Sense of Attachment to a particular place of abode ; " 
but especially to one's native home. And it cannot for 
one moment be supposed^ after a scrupulous sifting of 
that evidence, that the said organ can have the smallest 
claim to be deemed a necessary ingredient in the com- 
pound of organs upon the harmonious co-operation of 
which the concentrated and combined action of the 
intellectual faculties altogether depend. 

The importance of taking this view of the case cannot 

K 2 



100 INHAB1T1VENESS. 

"be valued too highly : for if the talent for intellectual' 
concentration is a compound, power of the mind and the 
sure result of the harmoniously-associated action of a 
number of well-balanced organs, affective as well as in- 
tellectual, it is certain that great mischief would arise 
in the practical application of Phrenology towards the 
elucidation of the diversified talents and dispositions of 
men, if it should be taken for granted that any special 
facility of intellectual concentration would be the neces- 
sary result of the ample size of this, or of any other 
single organ of the brain. 

Nevertheless, it is true, as I have already shown, that 
any cerebral organ which happens to be characteristically 
dominant, possesses the attribute of concentrativeness - r 
whether it be the exquisiteness of the sense of melody 
in Mozart and Beethoven, or of form in Michael Angela 
and Raphael, of ambition (which is the result of dominant 
organs of Love of Approbation and Self-esteem) in the 
Dictators Sylla and Julius Caesar, of the mechanical 
instinct in Archimedes, or of the sense of poetic beauty 
in the peasant poet Robert Burns. 

But Concentrativeness, taken in this sense, is nothing 
more than a simple inciter of two or more other organs 
to act in unison so as to produce that harmonious asso- 
ciation of ideas which is obviously synonymous with 
intellectual concentration. 

To incite two or more organs to act so as to concentrate' 
their energies upon any congenial subject does not confer 
the power of concentrating them. For many persons- 
evince a very strong tendency to concentrate their minds- 
upon some subject adapted to their special talent, so far as- 
to acquire even a large stock of knowledge in that par- 
ticular pursuit, but who are, at the same time, incapable- 



INHABITIVENESS. 101 

-of arranging and combining their ideas so as to transfuse 
into the minds of others, in a perspicuous and concen- 
trated form, even their own intellectual acquirements. 
And this happens because the faculty of arranging the 
ideas, and of causing them to co-operate harmoniously, 
when essaying to communicate knowledge, either in spoken 
or in written language, is derived from organs with which 
such persons are but scantily endowed. 

These organs are not specially devoted to the acquiring 
of knowledge in any department of literature or science. 
But those organs which are intrinsically occupied in 
gaining such knowledge, are materially sustained in their 
efforts and rendered far more effective and continuously 
useful by the harmonious co-operation of these most 
important auxiliaries (the organs of the combining and 
arranging powers), than they are at all capable of being 
without a fair measure of such aid. Indeed, without an 
adequate development of these organs, even persons of 
brilliant parts are, unfortunately, prone to degenerate into 
desultory habits of thinking and are liable to fall short in 
the race of intellectual industry. 

When the organs of the intellectual faculties come to 
he discussed it will be seen how important those of Time 
: and Order are to the consistent working of all the others. 
Indeed, a poor development of these organs is a seriou* 
obstacle to useful and productive intellectual industry 
They assist continuity of mental action, and produce 
harmony and method in the operations of the mind. They 
rare the corner stones which support and symmatrize the 
more exalted portions of the intellectual fabric. Indeed, 
it is quite certain that even moderately developed organs 
of the perceptive and reflective faculties, with the har- 
.monious co-operation of those essential adjuncts, are much 



102 INHABITIVENESS. 

more efficient in their own sphere of action than finely 
developed ones, when these are wanting in adequate 
support from the organs of Time and Order. 

Examples will be pointed out in the proper place to* 
show that the most renowned administrators of the affairs- 
of nations were, all of them, amply endowed with those 
two organs : and a conspicuous development of the region 
of the forehead occupied by them is characteristic of the 
most distinguished speakers and writers of every age 
and country — men remarkable for the talent of " main- 
taining two or more mental faculties in simultaneous- 
and combined activity, so that they may be directed 
towards one object." And this without the aid of the 
organ marked No. o. For in some conspicuous instances 
of genius, as has been already shown, it is found to be 
stnall, while it is often found large where no such intel- 
lectual capacity ever showed itself. This talent cannot, 
then, in any way depend upon the co-operation of that 
organ. No, not in the least degree. But it is to a fine, 
absolute, and relative development of the organs named 
above, combined, of course, with a good and well- 
balanced assemblage of the other intellectual organs, that 
we are to attribute the source of the faculty of simul- 
taneously arranging and concentrating upon a particular 
subject, several poAvers of the understanding (see Plate 6)_ 

But though fine or, at least, well-proportioned organs 
of Time and Order are essential ingredients of the com- 
pound wherein lies the talent of intellectual concentration, 
yet they are incapable, in some trying situations, of 
maintaining the due balance and harmonious action of 
the intellectual faculties. To illustrate this, let us sup- 
pose a man who has paid great attention to a theme, 
exactly adapted to his dominant intellectual powers, to- 



INHABITIVENESS. 103 

be endowed with large organs of Time and Order, in 
conjunction with well-balanced perceptive and reflective 
ones ; we shall then surely find that he possesses a facility 
of arranging his ideas and of communicating them to 
others, when he comes to commit his thoughts to writing. 
But there is something, not strictly akin to intellect, 
required to leave a man free to combine, arrange, and 
concentrate his thoughts, when he essays to address a 
public assembly with the view of bringing men to his 
own way of thinking : for, let his genius be ever so per- 
spicuous and comprehensive, he will become embarrassed 
before a multitude, especially if it be hostile, so far as 
to be quite unable, at the moment, to bring his faculties 
to bear upon the subject he is discussing with the same 
amount of concentrated force and clearness as he could, 
when writing in his own closet, or when in the act of 
addressing an audience friendly to his opinions, if firm- 
ness, self-esteem, combativeness, and hope form weak 
features of his character, while love of approbation and 
cautious circumspection are its predominant qualities. 
For, in the secluded closet the workings of such a man's 
intellect are in a great measure exempt from the intru- 
sion of those conflicting emotions, namely, the ambition 
to excel and the fear of not succeeding — affections which, 
in the presence of danger, paralyse the efforts of the 
brightest intellect by disconcerting the harmonious co- 
operation of its several faculties. For instead of being 
concentrated upon the subject of his intended discourse, 
they are distracted by an overwhelming sense of present 
danger, and wholly engaged in contemplating the proba- 
bility of some direful disaster. 

A memorable illustration of the unhappy effects pro- 
duced upon the well-poised action of the intellectual 



104 INHABITIVENESS. 

faculties by the ill-balanced energy of the organs of some 
of the feelings, and the apathetic weakness of others, 
occurred in the person of the great orator Cicero, upon 
his having ascended the rostrum, to speak in defence of 
his brave partisan, Annius Milo, who was on his trial for 
the killing of Clodius, Cicero's own bitter enemy and 
effectual persecutor. On that occasion, the great orator, 
seeing himself unexpectedly surrounded by Pompey's 
soldiers, was so completely terror-stricken that he lost 
his presence of mind ; his speech, consequently, was an 
utter failure, and his bold client was condemned to be 
banished. The speech, which he was unable to deliver 
through the disarranged state of his intellectual faculties, 
caused by timidity, he sent in its completeness, such as 
he had composed it at home, alone and unembarrassed, to 
■he exiled Milo, and Milo, in thanking him, said — u If 
you had spoken thus at the trial, Cicero, I should not now 
be eating shrimps at Marseilles." 

How different from this was his conduct, when, as 
consul, and surrounded by friendly and applauding 
magnates, he denounced Catiline in the senate house, for 
his treasonable actions in that fine and fearless speech, 
commencing with these harmonious words, Quousque 
tandem abutere Catilina, patientia nostra / " a speech which 
had a withering electric effect upon the daring intruder. 
But when we recur to a man who possessed well-arranged 
intellectual powers of colossal dimensions, combined 
with dispositions both enterprising and ambitious, and 
supported by courage the most heroic, Ave find that he was 
endowed with never-failing presence of mind and con- 
centrativeness in the midst of impending disaster. Such 
a man was Julius Cassar, who, when his army at a critical 
moment refused to fight until they had received their 
arrears of pay, and were clamorous for discharge, so far 



INHABITIVENESS. 105 

from being in the least alarmed or disconcerted, instantly- 
dismissed them, by addressing them as ' Quirites,' the 
word used to designate civilians amongst the Romans. 
The men were completely subdued by this single word, 
and imploringly prayed to be restored to their position as 
" Milites " (soldiers), and harassed him no more about 
the arrears due to them. Here was an instance of pre- 
sence of mind in the midst of danger, as well as of concen- 
trated mental power scarcely to be matched in history. 

Is it not obvious, then, that, to a certain extent at least, 
the equipoise of the organs of the feelings is indispensable 
for enabling even those who are endowed with powerful 
and well-balanced organs of the intellectual faculties, to 
concentrate their thoughts with clearness and effect when 
threatened by unexpected dangerous contingencies ? 

Seeing then by the evidence of a multiplicity of facts 
that the faculty of intellectual concentration" is the product 
of a well-balanced series of cerebral organs, it is but rea- 
sonable to conclude that the presence of a single organ, 
specially and exclusively adapted to produce that effect, 
is altogether superfluous. And when long-tried experi- 
ence discloses the fact that some men, renowned for 
superiority of genius, were but scantily endowed with the 
organ upon the largeness of which concentration of the 
mental powers was by some eminent men supposed to 
depend, when such is the case, there is afforded positive 
assurance that there does not exist any special single 
organ capable of causing the simultaneous concentrated 
action of so wide a range of mental qualities differing 
intrinsically from one another, and which have the power 
of acting in harmony only when the several organs upon 
which these qualities depend are well developed, and 
harmoniously balanced with those of Time and Order, 
(see Plates 6, 7, & 10.) 



ADHESIVENESS -SENSE OE ATTACH- 
MENT TO PERSONS. 



Weee we to be swayed by the opinions of some writers 
we should fall into tlie error of supposing that the sense 
of personal attachment does not exist as a simple primitive 
faculty of the mind, but that it is merely an exotic, 
which springs from influences engendered amongst 
human beings, living together, submitting to the same 
ordinances, and using the same language. Mutual wants 
and the necessity for help in a world full of danger are 
the incentives, they say, which prompted individuals 
to step out of their primitive, isolated spheres, in order 
to form themselves into communities, and thereby render 
every one according to his ability capable of augmenting 
the happiness of his neighbours and himself. 

Undoubtedly, this social compact is the result of cir- 
cumspect and prescient minds, acting with the view of 
devising means for adding to the prosperity and happiness 
of the body politic. But cold and selfish would be the 
motives actuating their proceedings if they were not 
instinctively conscious of being united by the soft bonds 
of social love, which brought men together at first, 
independent of the promptings of self-interest and fear. 
And as personal attachments do in course of time be- 
come expanded into public affections by the humanising 



ADHESIVENESS. 107 

influence of benevolence and conscientiousness, guided by 
wisdom and intelligence, so do they form the first links 
of the chain which binds communities together. But 
though the general possession of these noble mental 
qualities in harmonious uniformity is, above all things, 
necessary to a nation's happiness, yet it is to the diver- 
sity of talents that the rapid prosperity of a people is 
in a great measure due. For this difference of talent 
necessitates the division of labour, and by thus provid- 
ing for man's various wants would of itself tend to 
give rise to the founding of large communities. 

Yet that there is a primitive self-existent sense of 
attachment — of friendship cannot admit of a doubt. Is 
the love of a clog for his master the result of circum- 
spection and self-interest ? No, the faithful creature would 
suffer starvation rather than desert his friend. Sir Walter 
Scott records a very affecting instance of this truth in 
his spirited song commencing thus — "I have climbed the 
dark brow of the mighty Helvellin." 

Unlike the faithful dog, the cat seldom evinces much 
attachment to persons, yet so strong is its affection 
for the house it has been always used to that it can, 
scarcely be prevented from returning to its accustomed 
habitation, and from remaining there though it be 
cheerless and lonely. On the contrary, the dog cares 
but little for place, except in so far as it is connected 
in his remembrance with those who have caressed, 
him. 

This striking diversity in the dispositions of the cat 
and the dog, in regard to the aim of the specific sense 
of attachment of each of them, must necessarily be 
accompanied by a difference in the form of certain parts 
of the scull ; and a careful comparison of the parts which. 



108 ADHESIVENESS. 

■experience has invariably shown to be the seats of the 
organs of those two distinct senses of attachment, leaves 
no doubt on the mind of a careful practised observer that 
the part of the head which lies in the median line, just 
above the organ of the Love of Children, is relatively 
larger in the cat than in the dog ; while the parts lying 
on the right side and on the left of that organ, and over 
the extreme bounds of that of the Love of Offspring, is 
very large in the dog and comparatively small in the 
cat. There are some dogs, however, in which the organ 
is but ill-developed ; but such dogs are not remarkable 
for that strength of attachment which is so character- 
istic of the dog tribe. Some varieties, also, are charac- 
terised by a stronger sense of attachment than others : 
and I have observed, in the course of my examination 
of a very extensive collection of the sculls of dogs of 
almost every description, that the region of the scull, 
wherein this organ is situated, is much more developed 
in the former than in the latter. Even the fine English 
bulldog is far less prominent and rounded at this part 
than the little Blenheim, or King Charles's spaniel. Let 
any one compare the graceful greyhound of the chase 
with the French poodle, the Scotch terrier, the Irish 
water-spaniel, and the English setter, and he will find 
that in the scull of the greyhound the same part is not 
so well developed as it is in the others. 

In human sculls, also, great differences are found to 
exist in regard to the actual and relative size of the 
organ of the sense of Personal Attachment. It is very 
small, for instance, in the broad, low head of Richard 
Patch, who was hanged in 1806 for the murder of his 
friend and benefactor, Mr. Bligh, a shipbroker of Rother- 
hithe, who had a short time before raised him from the 



ADHESIVENESS. 109* 

position of a servant to that of a partner. On the 
contrary, the organ is singularly large in the cast of 
Hayman, a daring smuggler, who was captured during" 
an affray in which a revenue officer was killed. But, 
as he was not the person who fired the fatal shot, a 
pardon was offered him if he would divulge the names- 
of his companions. But the trusty fellow, with folded 
arms and countenance unmoved, said he would sooner 
die than betray his companions, and was hanged. Now, 
since this man's head was not indicative of the presence 
of high moral endowments, though it was not of the low 
criminal type, like Patch's, the influence of his large 
organ of Adhesiveness is the more strikingly conspicuous. 
Again, the organ is ill-developed in the cast of Fieschi, 
of "Infernal Machine" notoriety, who betrayed his 
accomplices, without effecting his own escape. And 
when one of them, on the scaffold, pointed to their aged 
associate, and upbraided him with having brought the 
feeble old man to so wretched an end, he merely shrugged 
his shoulders in a careless unfeeling manner. It is very 
small in the cast of the head of a Frenchman, named 
Dautun, in Gall's collection, whose unhallowed love of 
money caused him to poison his own brother for the 
sake of obtaining his property. The organ is very small 
in the cast of the notorious Lacinaire, who murdered a 
large number of persons in Paris ; and who, after his 
trial and condemnation, declared that he committed those 
atrocious crimes, for which he was about to suffer, 
because he had waged a war of extermination, so far as 
he could effect that object, against society, on account 
of some unpardonable wrongs he had suffered as a help- 
less victim of its injustice. One would think that so 
hazardous and hopeless a crusade could only have its 



110 ADHESIVENESS. 

source in a mind warped by insanity, if there were not 
in the strikingly marked characteristic features of his 
head indications of a tendency to give way to instinctive 
suggestions, calculated to lead to the commission of 
atrocities such as he was guilty of. To judge by the 
authentic cast of his head, he was a man of some talent, 
but singularly devoid of the moral sense, the slave of 
intense selfishness, unmitigated by the slightest demon- 
strative endowment of social attachment, which is, even 
b)y itself, as we have seen in the case of Hayman, a 
strong barrier against the inroads of selfishness. 

On the contrary, the same part of the head is large in 
the cast of the late Robert Owen, the essentially practical 
philanthropist, who thought and felt that the mind of 
man was constituted for social intercourse and unselfish 
■co-operation, and strove to show by experiment that 
general prosperity and peace would prevail, if men could 
be got to live with their families in societies, where the 
the produce of each individual's industry should go to 
form a joint stock, out of which each would get, as his 
portion, a sum adequate to the capacity, energy, and 
industry displayed by him as a member of the community. 
In this mode, Owen imagined that selfishness, violence, 
and contention could be rooted out of the ways of man- 
kind, and a path opened for the advent of benevolence, 
the benign harbinger of universal happiness. 

Bat this amiable and beneficent man was wrong in 
supposing that the home affections of human nature — our 
own "elective affinities," were to be set aside by this 
public amalgamation of interests, which would, to judge 
by experience, be likely, sooner or later, to become de- 
ranged through the selfishness of some, and finally break 
up into irremediable confusion. Such a scheme could 



ADHESIVENESS. Ill 

never be carried out without abridging personal liberty of 
action in regard to property, and weakening perhaps those 
ties of kindred which act so powerfully as incentives to 
industry, temperance, and a generous frugality. Indeed, 
so long as selfishness remains the active and prevailing 
ingredient of our mental constitution, as it at present 
seems to be, there is but little chance of such a general 
•commingling of interests being ever widely consummated. 

But though Owen's philanthropic speculations and 
practical efforts to ameliorate the condition of his fellow 
creatures proved to be abortive, it cannot be doubted that 
they were the spontaneous suggestions of the mind of one 
who was imbued with strong social affections, and whose 
soul yearned to hasten the advent of universal happiness. 
And if some of his opinions rendered him subject to the 
imputation of promulgating a doctrine which tended to 
the disruption of social ties, and the undermining of the 
sacred foundations of domestic bliss, the goodness of his 
intentions was never questioned by those who were aware 
of the purity of his conduct all through life, however 
much they thought him wanting in wise and reverential 
consideration for some important religious injunctions. 

But the point to be noted here is simply the fact that 
the organ of Adhesiveness is large in the cast of the head 
of Robert Owen, who was the hopeful enthusiastic friend 
•of mankind; and that it is very small in the cast of 
Lacinaire, the avowed hater and would be destroyer of 
society. Of course it is no.t to be supposed that a great 
development of this organ would go far to avert the 
selfish ferocity by which this atrocious criminal was 
likely, according to the shape of his head, to be swayed 
under some unhappy ^concurrence of circumstances ; but 
only that the object and nature of his wickedness was 



112 ADHESIVENESS. 

fashioned and coloured owing to the want of admixture 
in his mental composition of the grateful and warm hues 
of social attachment. Neither is it to be inferred that 
a poor development of this organ in Owen would be of 
force sufficient to put out the fire of his zeal in forwarding 
the cause of human happiness. To be satisfied of this it 
is only necessary to trace on the cast of his head the 
palpable lineaments of a confiding, unselfish, benevolent 
nature, unalloyed by the smallest tincture of covetousness, 
or of a disposition to countenance violence of any kind 
(see Plate 4, Diagrams 1, 2, 3, 4). 

The influence upon character of a large or small organ 
of Attachment is strikingly exemplified in the following 
instances. The organ is large in the head of Eustache 
Bellin, called "The Benevolent Negro," who exposed him- 
self to imminent peril during the great servile rebellion 
in St. Domingo, in striving to save his master's life and 
property. And he succeeded by politic and heroic efforts 
in escorting him in safety to Paris, after having bravely ,. 
with cutlass in hand, put down mutineers who were 
attempting to seize the ship in which they were bound 
for France. The organ is very small in the large, globular 
head of Palmer, of Eugely, the covetous, cold-hearted, 
arrantly deceitful murderer of his confiding, generous 
friend and ailing patient. And it is also affirmed that 
he poisoned some of his own nearest of kin. There is a 
great deficiency of this organ in the cast of Madame 
Gotfried, a Prussian woman in a respectable condition 
of life, who murdered, it is said, by means of poison ? 
eighteen persons. Of these, three were her husband's 
and three more her own children. The latter she 
destroyed not because she was incapable of loving them, 
but because she desired to gain a husband with money ; 



ADHESIVENESS. 113 

and as the man she was seeking declined to marry her 
because she had children, she with diabolical and un- 
natural cruelty murdered them. The form of this woman's 
head is very bad (see Plate 5). 

One instance more I would fain give to show a very 
remarkable coincidence between smallness of the organ 
of Attachment and the total absence of social love or 
affection. It is the cast of the head of a French chevalier. 
To judge by the salient features of this head, there cannot 
exist a doubt that this man was a plotting, plausible, 
cunning, avaricious, sensual, and singularly unscrupulous 
man, with an entire absence of the sense of attachment. 
And his conduct fully bears out this estimate of his 
character. It is on record that this man married a lady 
of fortune, that he acted towards her in the kindest 
manner until she fell ill, that this occurred after a short 
lapse of time, and that up to the day of her death, which 
soon took place, his attention was unremitting and his 
manner most consoling and affectionate. Though over- 
whelmed with grief, apparently, he soon succeeded in 
getting another wife who had money. But she, in her 
turn, soon got sick and died, after having received the 
most devoted care at the nursing hands of this cruel 
hypocrite. Soon after this a third wealthy victim fell 
into his snares by marrying him ; and though he had 
acquired by his diabolical cunning the reputation of being 
a model of a good and loving husband, the sudden illness 
and subsequent death of his third wife, whom he himself 
ministered to with, seemingly, the most affectionate and 
sympathising tenderness to the last moment of her life, 
there arose a suspicion that the chevalier was the murderer 
of his three wives. Conclusive evidence of this fact was 
soon acquired, and this wretch was tried, convicted, and 

L 



114 ADHESIVENESS. 

executed. The organ is very small in the head of the 
cruel, hypocritical Dr. Pritcharcl, whose conduct was 
of a like diabolical cast, though his motive was not the 
same. 

This primitive sense of social love or friendship is a 
highly important ingredient in the composition of a 
patriotic mind. And as Burke truly says, u No cold 
relation ever made a warm citizen," so no man ever 
loved his country and its interests dearly who was not 
endowed with a strong sense of social attachment. 

And after a scrupulous examination of a wide range of 
facts, I can truthfully aver that the organ of Adhesive- 
ness, or the sense of Attachment, is a salient feature in the 
busts and casts from nature of all those great men whose 
lives and energies have been instinctively devoted to the 
enhancement of the glory of their native land, without 
having their intentions tainted by the leaven of selfishness. 
But it would not be just to suppose that all those whose 
political career is by opponents judged to be unpatriotic 
were unendowed with warm patriotic affections, since 
their conduct takes its colour, in a considerable measure, 
from intellectual characteristics, as well as peculiarities 
of sentiment, which may be, and certainly are, often of a 
high order. For though we find the glowing enthusiastic 
patriotism of Henry Grattan coincident with a superior 
development of this organ in his bust, it is certain that it 
also forms a salient feature in the fine bust, by Nollekens, 
of the renowned and high-minded Chief Justice, Lord 
Mansfield, whose conservative tendencies abated the 
public display of strong social attachments, though they 
could not avert their patriotic influence, when his high 
sense of impartial justice prompted him to break through 
the trammels of religious bigotry, and of the iniquitous 



ADHESIVENESS. 115 

-social tyranny, by which his Catholic fellow-countrymen 
were in his time persecuted, in order to take a part in 
procuring their emancipation from political and religious 
thraldom. 

In the cast of the scull of Robert Burns the organ of 
Attachment is very large, and surely never did poet of 
any age or nation manifest in his poems more genuine 
fervour in delineating the charms of friendship than did 
this great genius. And there is another poet, in whose 
head the same part was remarkably protuberant, whose 
writings depict the enchanting influence of the social and 
domestic affections with all the glowing warmth of a soul 
that truly felt them. It will be surmised that here is 
meant Ireland's patriotic bard, Thomas Moore, whose 
" Irish Melodies " afford pure and affectionate indications of 
the paramount strength of this feeling in the constitution 
of his mind. The same organ is large in the head of Sir 
Walter Scott, and surely the glowing spirit of friendship 
was manifested in a high degree in the writings and 
manners of that noble-hearted man. 

In these cases a fine development of the organ of the 
sense of Local Attachment — of the love of home — tended 
to draw the simple abstract sense of personal attachment 
more particularly into affectionate adhesion with the 
people of their own native land. 

The seat of the organ of Adhesiveness, or Attachment 
to Persons, is just above the lateral confines of Philopro- 
genitiveness, and on each side of Inhabitiveness. It 
also lies above Combativeness, and behind and somewhat 
below the organs of Cautiousness and Love of Approba- 
tion, and is in immediate contact with all of them. 

How admirable is the harmoniousness of organic 
combination here displayed ! For here stand the repre- 

l 2 



116 ADHESIVENESS. 

sentatives of circumspection and courage, with shield and 
sword, at the portals of the domiciles of the social and 
domestic attachments, ready, instinctively, to give warning 
of danger, and to nerve the arm with vigour enough to 
crush it, if possible, should it ever threaten to injure the 
well-being of kinsfolk, or to desecrate the sanctity of one's 
native fireside. 

It is well to observe, in conclusion, that children in 
whom the organ of Adhesiveness is small, are not so 
easily managed as those in whom it is large, supposing 
them to be pretty nearly alike in other leading mental 
characteristics. One will be easily brought to forego- 
its most cherished fancies rather than see the person whom 
it loves pained by any show on its part of dissatisfaction 
or disobedience. The other, from weakness of the sense 
of attachment, does not readily identify itself with its 
associates, and cares less for their anxieties. For this 
affection is essentially unselfish, and is a powerful 
incentive to gratitude — that noble attribute of noble 
minds. 

An early knowledge of the disposition of children, with 
respect to their capacity for friendship, will go a great 
way in enabling parents and tutors to devise the most 
effectual means of influencing their dispositions. For, 
wherever there is large Self-esteem, with dominant 
Combativeness in a child, a superior development of 
Adhesiveness in- the same child will afford powerful 
assistance to the teacher, who, from instinctive sympathy 
of attachment, knows how to make use of such an im- 
portant and delightful auxiliary in his endeavours to 
counteract and control unruly passions and self-willed 
tendencies. 

In fine, there cannot exist a doubt that the sense of 



ADHESIVENESS. 117 

attachment to persons, called " Adhesiveness," is a 
primitive, single faculty of the mind ; or that the exact 
situation of its organ on the scull has been truly ascer- 
tained. Of this fact many positive and negative instances 
have been given in the foregoing pages. 



COMBATIVMESS, OE PERSONAL 
COURAGE. 



The theory which would maintain that courage is the 
result of a consciousness of superior bodily strength is 
quite as untenable as the one which considers the me- 
chanical aptitudes, which are possessed by mankind, to 
be the result of the superior form of the human hand- 
Li confutation of the first supposition it is only necessary 
to advert to the fact, that heroic personal courage is 
frequently displayed by men, small in size and of com- 
paratively feeble muscular power ; while timidity is often 
found to characterise men upon whom nature has be- 
stowed great bodily strength. 

That courage does not depend upon the presence of 
great muscular strength, combined with enormous size,, 
is proved by the fearless manner in which a thorough- 
bred English bulldog will attack a gigantic and infuriated 
bull. So great is the courage of the English game-cock 
that he will die rather than turn tail upon his antagonist. 
And a game-hen has been known to pursue over several 
garden walls a cat, which had caught up one of her 
chickens, and then attacked him with such vigour that 
he was forced to relinquish his prey. The robin and the 
diminutive wren are remarkable for their pugnacity ; 
while the turkey is a timid bird. That the instinct of 



COMBATIVENESS. 119 

self-defence does not depend upon size and strength is 
also apparent when a large flock of sheep is seen to run 
in affright before a lady's lapdog. The tall, muscular 
greyhound would not dare to stand the attack of a small 
bull-terrier. Bodily strength, then, has no share in 
imparting the instinct of self-defence or courage : although 
the consciousness of possessing great muscular power 
must tend to support the courage of a man by imbuing 
his mind Avith a greater amount of self-reliance in regard 
to his capacity for attack or defence. But such calcula- 
tions cannot, of course, enter into the minds of animals. 

By some, courage has been thought to arise from the 
love of glory : but the adoption of such an opinion would 
be to mistake the faculty which incites another faculty 
to action for the primitive faculty itself. As well might 
love or friendship, or the care of one's offspring, or the 
necessity of preserving property, be considered as the 
source of courage, since they are, undoubtedly, most 
powerful incentives to the display of fortitude. The love 
of offspring is a quality which is far more influential in 
the mental constitution of women than in that of men ; 
and yet courage is not a distinctive attribute of the female 
character. 

Indeed, there cannot be the slightest hesitation in 
coming to the conviction that courage is a primitive, self- 
supporting faculty, which is manifested more or less 
energetically in different species of animals and indivi- 
duals of the same species. In men, too, some aboriginal 
tribes are abundantly supplied with this valuable quality : 
the New Zealanders and North American Indians, for 
instance, while it is a comparatively defective ingredient 
in the mental constitution of the Hindoo and Chinaman. 
And yet the collateral incentives to the display of bravery 



120 COMBATIVENESS. 

are quite as powerful in the Chinese and Hindoos as in 
the Maories and American Indians. 

The abstract existence of this faculty being, therefore, 
an incontrovertible fact, there can be no doubt as to the 
certainty of a part of the brain being specially devoted to 
its manifestation. And, since it is a mental attribute 
which man inherits in common with animals, it is reason- 
able to suppose that its organ is among those of the animal 
propensities. In strict accordance with this anticipation, 
the organ of Combativeness is found to lie just above 
Amativeness, and on each side of Philoprogenitiveness. 
It has Adhesiveness in contact with it above, and 
Destruotiveness, Secretiveness, and Cautiousness are 
attached to it towards the front and the top of the head. 

What an appropriate assemblage of co-operative organs 
is here presented ! Here are Circumspection and Courage 
standing as sentinels — one, with watchful eye and listening 
ear, ready to sound the alarm on the sight of danger — 
the other, armed at all points, stretches forth its broad 
shield of protection with one hand, while with the other 
it strikes to the ground those who would dare to injure 
the objects of our dearest affections. 

Experience has established it as a fact that without an 
adequate development of this organ it is not possible for a 
man to act with intrepidity in the midst of danger, or to 
be disposed to repel, at all hazards, unjust aggression. 
Still, a strongly marked and habitually active Combative- 
ness is not indispensable to the disposition and the power 
to oppose and repel unjust aggression. For an exalted 
sense of justice is sure to excite to energetic action even 
a moderately developed organ of Combativeness, when 
that sense is violated. And cases could here be recorded 
where benevolent anxiety for the safety of another has 



COMBATIVENESS. 121 

caused an individual with moderate Combativeness to 
rush into danger in the presence of persons much bolder 
than himself, and in whom the organ was much larger, 
who wondered at his rashness. 

Nevertheless, a large development of this organ is an 
indispensable ingredient in the cerebral composition of 
an instinctively warlike and heroic personage. And 
amongst the numerous illustrations of this fact adduced 
by Dr. Gall in his great work on the functions of the 
brain was the scull of General "VVurmser, who was a man 
of great personal courage. In that scull the region in 
question is not only very broad, but remarkable also for 
a convex projection; while in the scull of the poet 
Alxinger, whose disposition was timid, the same part is 
not only narrow but flat. In men remarkable for their 
poltroonery, Gall always found a narrowness and some- 
times even a slight depression of this organ. And, on 
the contrary, he says that at the combats of wild beasts, 
at that time still exhibited at Vienna, there often appeared 
.a first-rate fighter, of extreme intrepidity, who presented 
himself in the arena to sustain alone a fight with] a wild 
boar or bull, or any ferocious animal whatever. " I 
found in him," says Gall, "the region of the head just 
pointed out, very large and rounded." He took a cast 
of this head, and also of those of some other "bravos," 
that he might run no risk of forgetting their particular 
conformations. 

Numerous are the examples recorded since the days 
of Gall, which corroborate, beyond the shadow of a doubt, 
the truth of his views as to the function of this portion 
of the brain. In all pugilists remarkable for their courage 
this region of the head is very large. The men who 
.first in this country caused brute force to succumb to 



122 COMBATIVENESS. 

the "art of self-defence," were by sporting men deemed 
worthy of having their features immortalised by means 
of fine mezzotint engravings. These champions were 
Fig, and Broughton, and Taylor, with some others. In 
all of them the organ stood out in conspicuous prominence. 
In Deville's collection there were many casts of noted' 
boxers, and in them, also, a similar conformation was 
obvious to the most casual observer, although there 
appeared a marked dissimilarity in other parts of their 
heads. In the cast of one of them of the name of Curtis, 
a very small man, remarkable for his intrepidity m 
encountering men much larger and more powerful than 
himself, as well as for his skill in vanquishing them, this 
part of the head is very prominent. 

A very large development of this organ tends to make 
a man quarrelsome, but such is not invariably the case; 
for if there be, at the same time, a fine endowment of 
the moral sentiments, with intellect to guide them, 
wanton pugnacity will never manifest itself. One of 
the largest organs of Combativeness, or the instinct of 
self-defence, that has ever come under my notice, was 
to be seen in Mr. Deville's collection. It formed a 
prominent feature in the cast of a country gentleman,, 
who, on one occasion, previous to his returning home 
from market, turned into an inn to take some refresh- 
ment. There happened to be then at the bar three men 
of very suspicious appearance, who left the house upon 
hearing this gentleman tell the landlord that he intended 
to walk home. Knowing the men to be very bad char- 
acters, and suspecting that they intended to waylay and 
rob his respected customer, the landlord, after giving 
his reasons, begged of him not to venture on the road 
that night. He replied that he never feared any man r 



COMBATIVENESS. 123 

and requested the landlord to give him a stick and three- 
short ropes. Having procured them he set out for 
home, which was about three miles off. On the way he 
espied, through the dusk of the evening, three men in 
the centre of the high road. On one of them coming 
towards him he warned him to keep out of his path, 
and upon the near approach of the highwayman, this 
fearless man rushed upon him, struck him across the 
legs, and brought him to the ground. On the others 
advancing to the rescue of their accomplice, he knocked 
them down one after the other, in the way he disposed of 
the first, and then having disabled their arms by a few 
well planted strokes, he pinioned them with his three 
cords, and ultimately compelled them to return to the 
village they had all just quitted for the purpose of robbing 
him. 

Undoubtedly this was a rare instance of intrepidity 
and self-reliance, for the heroism of this man, being cool 
and premeditated, must be deemed to be of a higher 
quality than that instinct of self-defence which prompts 
a man to encounter, an unexpected attack. It should be 
observed that in this case the organ of Caution was only 
of moderate size and that of Hope large, and there was a 
fine development of the moral portion of the head. He- 
was fearless and brave, but not quarrelsome. As a 
contrast to this head there Avas by the side of it the cast 
of a young man, who was of so timid a disposition that 
his family were alarmed for his safety, if, by any chance, 
he should be obliged to cross a thoroughfare in London. 
The slightest appearance of danger disconcerted him so 
much that he lost all presence of mind, and seemed 
scarcely capable of making an effort to save himself. 
He was equally fearful of encountering the active duties 



124 COMBATIVENESS. 

of life. The head, in this instance, was rather below the 
average size, and the organ of Combativeness was so 
exceedingly small that it was not only narrow from side 
to side, but even hollow where in the other head it was 
protuberant. 

In Thorwaldsen's fine bust of Lord Exmouth the organ 
is excessively large, and surely never did any man display 
a greater amount of heroic courage than was, on every 
occasion, manifested by this beau ideal of a British sailor. 
In very early life his heroic gallantry shone conspicuously 
in his efforts to rescue his fellow-creatures from positions 
of the greatest peril. When his telescope was flattened 
in his coat pocket by a shot at Algiers he did not seem to 
notice it, but gave his orders with perfect indifference to 
the danger to which he fearlessly exposed himself. 

I will here mention an incident which is strikingly 
illustrative of the unflinching courage of this renowned 
British admiral. 

Some years ago when that exquisite sculptor and 
•excellent man, McDowell, was modelling the statue of 
Lord Exmouth, which is now a signal ornament in the 
Hall of Greenwich Hospital, I happened to be in his 
studio ; and my attention having been drawn to Thor- 
waldsen's bust of his lordship, I gave my single-hearted, 
unselfish friend, at his own request, a brief phrenological 
reading of it. In the course of a careful analysis of his 
various strikingly moral and intellectual characteristics, I 
said that his noble intrepidity might, in the face of 
impending danger, be apt to degenerate into improvident 
acts of rashness, owing to the vast ascendency of the 
organs of Combativeness, Benevolence, Conscientious- 
ness, and Hope over his moderately-developed organ of 
Caution, but yet that this opinion did not amount to a 



COMBATIVENESS. 125 

settled conviction, because it was probable that the cir- 
cumspect and reflective character of his clear intellect 
would, on almost all occasions, afford him an effective 
safeguard against unthinking rashness. A few minutes 
after this Archdeacon Pellew came in with a captain in 
the navy to view the statue. In the course of conversa- 
tion, McDowell told the archdeacon what I had said of 
his father's character, as far as it was indicated by the 
bust. He seemed much pleased at my having estimated 
it so highly, and in the kindest manner acknowledged the 
truthfulness of the delineation. And then, turning to his 
friend, he said, "Do you remember our dinner at Ply- 
mouth during that severely contested election ? Did not 
my father seem to every one at table to have acted rashly 
upon that occasion ? The case," said he, " was this. 
The mob came before our door in a violent and threaten- 
ing attitude, for my father was on the unpopular side in 
politics. When the furious uproar commenced we were 
seated at dinner, and, in our alarm, begged of him not to 
show himself at the window. But, after listening for a 
moment, he went to the window, when an infuriated 
shout pierced our ears. My father then left the parlour, 
desiring that no one should follow him. In a minute 
we saw him, bareheaded, walking up coolly to the mob, 
and seizing the two ringleaders, drove them into his own 
hall, and then shut the door. The mob were thunder- 
struck, for they ceased their menacing, and soon dis- 
persed, and he, as I recollect, then dismissed his prisoners. 
There was no repetition of the attack upon him or his 
house." 

This act, so fearless and daring, was the only one he 
knew of, in which the archdeacon thought his father could 
be looked upon as being guilty of rashness. 



126 COMBATIVENESS. 

The late celebrated statesman, Lord Castlereagh, was 
remarkable, at all periods of his life, for courage of the 
highest order, and for imperturbable coolness in the midst 
of clanger. So powerful, indeed, was this attribute of his 
nature that his political enemy, 0' Conn ell, thus character- 
ised him to Captain Gronow, in the House of Commons, 
" With all his faults, Castlereagh was a fine fellow, and as 
brave as Achilles." 

Let any one examine the exceedingly fine bust of this 
distinguished man, by Chantrey, and the great promin- 
ence of the head, in the seat of the organ of Combative- 
ness, cannot escape his notice. The organ is moderate 
in Behnes Burlowe's bust of the gentle, philosophic,, 
unassuming Sir J. Macintosh. It is very large in the 
cast of that able lawyer and historian, John Adolphus, 
who is said to have been of a choleric and contentious 
disposition. In Wyat's bust of King George the Third, 
this part of the head is very large, and its energies could 
not be much counteracted in him by thoughts on the 
prospect of danger, for in his head, neither the organ of 
Caution, nor those of the reflective faculties, were well 
developed. In his son, the Duke of York, a similar 
genera] conformation of the head presents itself. And is 
not the personal bravery of both these royal personages 
quite notorious ? 

The ancient sculptors seem to have copied nature 
closely : and we meet with, in their works, most interest- 
ing evidence corroborative of the phrenological doctrine. 
In Scipio and Julius Csesar, in Marius and Sylla, we find 
the part of the head which we are now considering very 
large ; while it is moderate in the busts of Cicero and 
Demosthenes, and in those of the poets Theocritus and 
Horace. The inglorious flight of Demosthenes, when 



COMBATIVENESS. 127 

lighting in the cause most clear to his heart, is matter 
of history ; and Cicero himself says, when writing to his 
friend about Csesar, " He," meaning Caesar, " knows 
that I have not a spark of courage." And Horace play- 
fully alludes to his having, in his flight from Philippi, 
thrown down his little shield, " relicta parmula" as he 
himself playfully expresses it. 

Though there are to be met with in some regions of 
Hindostan many tribes possessed of much personal 
•courage, yet, the Hindoos are, generally, found to be 
strikingly deficient in that attribute. And out of a large 
number of Grentoo sculls, which have fallen under my 
notice, scarcely one could be met with that was not very 
small where the organ of Combativeness is placed. In 
the scull of Seedee Almas and Hassan Khan the organ 
was large ; and these men were remarkable for their 
courage — the latter especially. He was killed by a sabre 
cut on the head, at Gruznee. 

The people of Loo Choo were found to be a shy, timid 
race, when Captain Hall visited their island. And when 
this navigator told Napoleon, at St. Helena, that these 
people had no kind of offensive weapon or warlike in- 
strument, the great warrior expressed his wonder, that 
there could be in existence a people to whom war was 
unknown. Such an opinion was in perfect harmony with 
his own dispositions and conduct through life. 

To Robert Owen, on the contrary, the existence of 
such a people would be evidence confirmatory of his own 
theory — that man is by nature averse to war and conten- 
tion, and that this unamiable propensity is but the result 
of the circumstances by which he has been surrounded 
through life. 

Mr. Combe truly says that " this faculty adapts man 



128 COMBATIVENESS. 

to a world where clanger and difficulty abound." But 
would it be right to infer from this that the presence 
of this faculty in the constitution of man implies the 
necessity of the existence of danger and of sources of 
contention? Certainly, if its function be confined to 
angry sallies of attack or defence. But to consider such 
an inference conclusive would be to narrow its sphere of 
usefulness, for this faculty may be in action when all 
signs of danger are absent. It enhances the energies of 
the intellectual faculties as well as those of the feelings 
and moral affections. And although strong faculties are 
capable of manifesting, of their own accord, their inherent 
activity; still certain experiences would lead to the 
conclusion that the total absence of Combativeness from 
the mental constitution of all mankind would be attended 
with so great an amomit of apathetic indolence, in the 
carrying out, sedulously and continuously, of the active- 
business of life, as would render abortive, in a great 
measure, the wisest plans for the advancement of the 
common weal, or prayerful resolutions for promoting the 
comforts even of oneself. The truthfulness of this as- 
sumption is strongly supported by the following remarkable 
case. 

William Mears, a very clever mechanic, in the service 
of the late Mr. James Deville, the celebrated practical 
phrenologist, had a large and finely-formed forehead. 
He was also endowed with a very good development of 
the region of the moral sentiments, and a large organ of 
Ideality indicated the presence of a superior sense of the 
spirit of poetry. The organ of Constructiveness was 
large also. He possessed, moreover, the nervous tempera- 
ment in its purest form. But the whole of the exclusively 
animal portion of the head was small, particularly Com- 



COMBATIVENESS. 129 

bativeness, and that was exceedingly small. As might 
be expected, this man was morally sensible of his duties, 
but, from his want of stirring energy of character, he 
felt that their assiduous fulfilment was so irksome, not- 
withstanding his mechanical competency, that he was 
frequently in the habit of giving a part of his own weekly 
hire to a fellow-workman to complete what he himself 
had in hand. 

Now this signal repugnance to active exertion in his 
own special calling, on the part of a man who possessed 
superior talent in his craft, could not possibly have arisen 
from natural inactivity of the organs, which are alone 
competent to the performance of such duties. Its cause 
must, therefore, be sought for elsewhere. And there is 
abundant evidence to show that that cause is to be 
ascribed, chiefly, but still not entirely, to a meagre 
development of the organ of Combativeness. For this 
comparatively illiterate poor man was a devoted student 
of astronomy and poetry, and was in the habit of sitting 
up late for the purpose of watching the stars, and of 
composing poems on astronomical subjects. But though 
these tastes were calculated to wean him from a pursuit 
that he might have deemed comparative drudgery, yet, 
had he been endowed with well-developed Combative- 
ness, he would, instinctively, have striven to go through 
his proper labour without vicarious aid, and could still 
spare time for indulging in his scientific and literary 
wanderings. 

The habit of giving part of his wages to a fellow- 
workman for doing that which he was too indolent to 
do himself, brought him into pecuniary want ; and he 
committed suicide after the manner of Seneca. 

It is not irrelevant to observe here that self-murder is 

M 



130 COMBATIVENESS. 

not necessarily the act of a sanguinary temper or of a 
courageous heart. For, in addition to very small Com- 
bativeness, the organ of Destructiveness was small, also, 
in the head of this poor man, Mears. But when his 
small organ of Hope and large organ of Caution became 
disagreeably affected by the humiliating inroads of poverty, 
against which he had not the courage to stand, and which 
his well-developed Self-esteem rendered him unwilling 
to brook — it was then he fell a consenting victim to the 
fatal goadings of despondency. 

In the region of the organ of Combativeness how 
striking is the contrast, as to size, between the head of 
this indolent man and that of the renowned William 
Cobbett — the singularly indefatigable, energetic, self- 
sustaining " Labourer." Such was the epithet by which 
he designated himself when called upon to plead in the 
Court of King's Bench to a serious ex-ojjicio indictment, 
wherein he was accused by Attorney- General Denman 
of being the cause or instigator of some agrarian outrages ; 
and upon which occasion he eloquently, defiantly, and 
triumphantly pleaded his own cause. Certainly Cobbett 
was a man of extraordinary talents. But Mears was also 
endowed with superior abilities. 

These cases, and many other similar ones that could 
be cited here, tend to prove that Combativeness is an 
essential ingredient of the mental constitution of every 
active member of society ; though danger and all the 
causes of angry contention were swept away from the 
face of the earth. At the same time, the inordinate de- 
velopment of that organ is a sure indication of an inherent 
love of contention, and a tendency to provoke assault. 
And of this Cobbett was a notable example. Never- 
theless, a very large organ of Combativeness may be 



COMBATIVENESS. 131 

■possessed by one to whom quarrelsomeness is irksome. 
A striking example of tins is presented in the head of 
Charles James Fox, modelled by Nollekens. In this 
large and powerfully-developed head the organ forms a 
prominent feature. It is indeed very salient. And yet 
Fox was dearly loved by those who knew him intimately 
for the peace-seeking gentleness of his disposition. To 
use the words of his friend Edmund Burke, ci He had 
not one drop of gall in his constitution." But he was bold 
and impetuous when denouncing those whom he looked 
upon as the mortal enemies of freedom. And these 
qualities he displayed in a strain of eloquence, such as 
has seldom been equalled for closeness of reasoning and 
the unpremeditated display of benevolent aspirations for 
the political and social happiness of all mankind, without 
•distinction of creed or complexion. But, in persons less 
happily constituted, so large an organ of Combativeness 
would incite to quarrelsomeness and self-willed aggression. 
Such is the inference, for instance, to be drawn from two 
fine antique busts of the warlike and habitually aggres- 
sive Caius Marius, and the no less cruel, arrogant, and 
pugnacious Sylla. This organ is a conspicuous feature 
in the authentic portrait of Martin Luther by his friend, 
Cranach. But, unlike Fox, who, as Burke said, " was 
formed to be beloved," Luther was constantly under the 
active influence of a seemingly uncontrollable self-will, 
which raised the tone of his powerful Combativeness to 
the highest pitch of intenseness. And this resulted in 
that arrogant and insolent style of controversy which it 
was his delight to adopt, though the object of attack 
might be a pope or a king. The utter fearlessness of this 
great reformer is clearly indicated by the moderate deve- 
lopment of the organ of Caution in the afore-mentioned 

M 2 



132 COMBATIVENESS. 

portrait of him. In the bust of Fox, also, the organ of 
Caution was of moderate size. And this fact, coupled 
with his very large organ of Combativeness, fully ex- 
plains how it came to pass that a man with an intellect 
so powerful, and sentiments so graceful and noble, could 
have allowed the impetuous current of his energies to- 
overwhelm, sometimes, the patent landmarks of cir- 
cumspection. 

A man who holds a place still higher in the ranks of 
mankind was George Washington. He was not, perhaps,, 
so lovable a character as Charles Fox. And though not, 
gifted with genius for oratory, like that renowned: 
statesman, he possessed a far greater share of wisdom 
and prudence. But he was also heroically resolute and' 
brave. Jefferson says he was utterly insensible to the- 
influence of fear. His characteristic prudence, therefore, 
was not so much the result of instinctive cautiousness 
(for dominant caution is the true parent of fear), as of 
clear-sighted intellectual forethought. Such courage as- 
was possessed by this illustrious patriot must have been 
accompanied by the presence of a large organ of Com- 
bativeness. And yet he was not affected by any tendency 
to provoke assault, which is an abuse of the function of 
that organ to which some persons with a far inferior deve- 
lopment of it are prone to give way, because the moral 
harmony of his disposition must necessarily have rendered 
groundless discord irksome to him. Still he had naturally 
a very warm temper. 

Without Combativeness personal conflict could not be 
endured, nor indeed undertaken, even under the pressure 
of strong incentives. But yet in the conduct of human 
affairs it cannot be that a thirst for conflict is its only 
inherent mode of action; since a full endowment of it is 



COMBATIVENESS. 133 

-found to be a leading feature in some of the most 
peace-loving benefactors of mankind. 

This apparent anomaly is entirely owing to the mutual 
influence of the faculties. For instance, the warlike 
recklessness of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, to judge 
from Kraft's portrait of him, engraved by Tange, is 
clearly indicated by the largeness of Combativeness and 
Hope, and the smallness of Caution. While the signal 
courage of Henry the Fourth's great minister and saga- 
cious adviser, Sully, with his ever wakeful prudence, find 
fitting representatives in a large organ of Combative- 
ness and a well- developed one of Caution, supported by 
an intellect singularly circumspect, and keenly observant 
•of passing events. For these are the characteristics of 
his fine head, as they have been delineated in De 
Marcenay de Ghuy's small but beautiful engraving of 
his portrait .by Porbus. In the picture of Charles the 
Fifth of Spain, by Titian, engraved under the care and 
direction of Eubens, and in that of his early favourite 
and youthful adviser William of Orange, by Delft, after a 
painting from life by Yischer, there are signal indications 
of great intellectual power, of which circumspection is a 
marked characteristic. Each possessed a salient organ of 
Firmness. But Combativeness is certainly a more promi- 
nent feature in the head of Charles. It must have been 
in him, at all events, less under the influence of instinctive 
Cautiousness ; for the organ of that faculty is far more 
prominent in the head of the Prince of Orange than in 
that of Charles. And, though the former displayed 
heroic resolution, while striving to assert the liberties of 
his country, yet certainly he was not, instinctively, so 
brave and fearless as the great Charles the Fifth. 

A very remarkable contrast is presented between the 



134 COMBATIVENESS. 

portraits of the brave but cautious Sully and that by 
Balechou of Crillon, who was distinguished for his im- 
petuous heroism when fighting on the side of his no less 
gallant king, the great Henry the Fourth, against the 
Catholic league, though he was himself a Catholic. In 
this portrait the organ of Combativeness is very large,, 
but that of Caution is relatively small, and there is a fine 
development of the organs of the moral and religious' 
sentiments, with a high but not so prominent and admin- 
istrative a forehead as Sully was endowed with. 

Of the incautious impetuosity of Crillon's character the 
following anecdote, related by Voltaire, affords an interest- 
ing illustration. 

" Henry the Third," says Voltaire, " had given Crillon 
the surname of Brave ; Henry the Fourth never called 
him anything but ' Brave des Brave.' This illustrious, 
general being in the king's closet, where his majesty was- 
conversing with several courtiers and foreign ministers, 
the discourse turned upon the praises of great warriors. 
1 Gentlemen,' said the king, laying his hand upon Crillon's 
shoulder, ' here is the first warrior in the world.' ' Sire,' 
replied Crillon, hastily, with that impetuosity which was 
so peculiar to him, ' you have uttered a falsehood, it is 
you who are the first, I am only the second.' " What a 
rare commingling of rash, impetuous rudeness, and 
courteous, unflattering modesty. And here it cannot but 
be appropriate to the subject to say that the organ of 
Benevolence, and that of Veneration, were leading features 
of the portrait of Crillon, as humanity, and generosity, 
and devotedness were striking characteristics of his nature. 
Quarrelsomeness, or provoking offensiveness, therefore, 
could never be fostered in a disposition like his, notwith- 
standing the prominence of his organ of Combativeness. 



COMBATIVENESS. 135 

In the cast of Dean Swift's scull this organ is very- 
large, and great personal intrepidity was a conspicuous 
element of his character. A convincing instance of this 
occurred, when Lord Cartaret, then Lord-Lieutenant of 
Ireland, had offered a reward of five hundred pounds to 
any one who would name the author of the " Drapier's 
Letters." The very day after the issuing of this procla- 
mation a crowded levee was held at the castle. Swift, 
who was the author of those famous letters, attended it 
in canonicals. And in contemptuous disregard of all 
ceremony, he jostled his way at once through the throng 
of courtiers, until he found himself face to face with 
the Viceroy, and then, pointing to the proclamation, 
which he did not fail to bring along with him, and 
assuming a stern and undaunted expression of counte- 
nance, he defiantly inveighed against the imposture which 
Government was striving to foist upon his native country 
in the form of a debased copper coin of which one Wood 
was the patentee. He did this, too, in the very words 
of the letter which called forth the threatening procla- 
mation. Lord Cartaret, instead of taking offence, replied 
with singular presence of mind and gentle courtesy in 
the classic words of a great poet — 

" Res durce, sed non mea mens, me talia cogunt 
Molirir * 

" The Dean " then quitted the enemy's camp with 
flying colours, and, many years after, when writing the 
remarkable poem upon his own death and character he 
gloried in the thought that when he was in so perilous a 
situation — 

* Hard circumstances, but not my own mind, compel me to 
adopt such, devices. 



136 COMBATIVENESS. 

" Not a rogue was to be found 
To sell Mm for five hundred pound." 

It should t>e noted, here, that the inherent tendency of 
a powerful organ of Combativeness to provoke assault 
was strongly displayed by Swift all through life. But, as 
this tendency was repugnant to the nature of several 
illustrious men who have been already named, and who 
were endowed with an organ of Combativeness, quite as 
prominent as that which the skull of Dean Swift dis- 
played, it is obvious that their exemption from that 
unsocial disposition was owing to the greater development 
in them of the organs of the genial and gentle affections. 
Of this truth a striking and interesting example is to be 
met with in the mask of the generous, compassionate, and 
forgiving Henry the Fourth of France. In that authentic 
relic, the organ of Benevolence is a remarkably salient 
feature, and that of Ideality — the sense of the beautiful 
in all things, whether spiritual or material — is developed 
to a very high degree. And accordingly, to use the 
words of Sully, " his was a mind in which the ideas of 
what is great, uncommon, and beautiful, seemed to spring 
up spontaneously." It is in defence of such noble objects 
that his paramount combativeness would take delight, 
and not in the desire to provoke assault. Cobbett, " the 
noblest peasant born," as Elliott, " the Corn Law 
Rhymer," has designated that most remarkable man, 
may be justly classed, in regard to these mental charac- 
teristics, in the same category with the renowned Dean 
of St. Patrick's. And correspondingly marked is the 
resemblance which the casts of their heads, taken after 
death, bear to each other in the region of the organs of 
those attributes ; while the cast from nature of the kindly, 
affectionate, placable Charles James Fox harmonises in 



COMBATIVENESS. 137 

an equally marked manner with that of the magnanimous 
Henry. 

It is obvious, when the foregoing facts are taken into 
■consideration, that it would be incorrect to infer that a 
large organ of Combativeness must necessarily lead to 
the abuse of its function without having first carefully 
taken cognisance of the mutual influence of the faculties 
as they are indicated in every head by the relative size of 
their respective organs. 

Courage of the most unselfish kind has been displayed 
by the most amiable and saintly characters that have 
ever appeared in the world. Combativeness, of which 
courage is the essence, cannot therefore be incompatible 
with the prevalence of " Peace on earth and good will 
towards men." Without a fair endowment of this organ 
the good Eichard Cobden could not have ventured to 
encounter the powerful and influential opponents of mea- 
sures which have proved to be conducive to the best 
interests, not only of his own, but of every other civilised 
nation. But so great was his abhorrence of war and of 
angry strife, and so fixed and intense his conviction that 
a resort to war in any form was criminal and unnecessary, 
that he rendered himself liable to be considered by many 
;as being singularly Quixotic in his notions on that subject. 
But it was offensive war that Cobden deprecated. He 
thought that nations could assert and maintain their own 
rights and liberties without resorting to deadly conflict. 
But it would be doing a wrong to that true-hearted 
patriot and philanthropist to suppose that he deprecated 
warlike resistance to unjust aggression, when it should 
occur ; because his own compassionate, just, and unselfish 
nature prompted him to use his far-seeing, logical intel- 
lect in the devising and the working to a successful issue 



138 COMBATIVENESS. 

of measures which he foresaw were calculated to gratify 
the selfish tendencies , of nations and of individuals : and, 
consequently, were likely to prevent war, which is the 
unruly offspring of unsatisfied selfishness. 

In that compound of noble instincts, Fortitude — that 
cardinal virtue of the ancients — Combativeness is a 
leading ingredient. And as true fortitude often glories 
in being the means of allaying anger and strife, and as- 
this cannot be done effectually without courage, and as 
courage cannot show itself in the dearth of combativeness, 
combativeness cannot be essentially and solely the abode 
of quarrelsomeness. No. It is in other quarters of the 
brain we are to search for the seats of the real incentives 
of this odious propensity. It is in the regions of unscru- 
pulous ambition, of unholy covetousness in all its phases 
of pelf and passion, and in selfish uncharitableness they 
are to be found. But, as skulking deceit, their natural 
ally, deeply imbues these incentives with the pale hues 
of cowardice, they would recoil before wakeful opposition,, 
if they could not command the services of combativeness.. 
And this, like all other feelings, being blind to conse- 
quences, is alike ready to be the agent in supporting, in 
the face of formidable opposition, the behests either of 
the righteous or of the unworthy. But it would be a 
mistake to think that, because a man possesses an ade- 
quate organ of Combativeness to fit him for the energetic 
conduct of his affairs, he is therefore capable of evincing 
intrepidity in the face of impending danger to life or 
limb : nor does it happen that a truly brave man is 
necessarily disposed to be an active worker in the trans- 
actions of life. The result in the first case arises from 
too much caution, in the second, from too little ; as well 
as from intellectual and moral inaptitude for the tranquil 



COMBATIVENESS. 13$' 

pursuits of industry in the latter case. And the source 
of this unfitness is also discernible in the form of the- 
head. 

A striking example of the last-mentioned characteristics 
may be seen in the cast from nature of Richard Brindsley 
Sheridan — 

The orator, statesman, and minstrel who ran 
Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all. 

It cannot be doubted that such an intellect as his, which 
was so acutely observant of events, in all the minuteness 
of detail, was eminently capable of conducting to a suc- 
cessful issue the necessary affairs of life. Yet in this he 
sadly failed. But not from want of an adequate amount 
of the organ of Combativeness, for that organ is very 
prominent in the head of this remarkable man. To judge 
from this cast one is justified in averring that Sheridan 
was not endowed with the organs of Forethought and 
Circumspection to such an extent as would render him 
habitually provident and industrious. And, moreover, 
this carelessness was naturally fostered by the utter 
fearlessness of his character. His head is also indicative 
of the uncommon strength of the social affections, which 
caused him to devote himself to the pleasures of the table, 
even to the ruin of his health and prospects. And there 
are signs also of his want of economy and frugality in 
regard to the preservation of money. 

But though his dominant combativeness was not 
capable of raising a barrier strong enough to resist the 
overwhelming influx of his current weaknesses, which 
were so opposed to the pursuits of useful industry, there 
are few, if any, men who were possessed of more fearless 
intrepidity than that which was so gallantly displayed by 



140 COMBATIVENESS. 

Sheridan in his truly desperate sword encounters with 
Captain Mathews, his unsuccessful rival for the hand and 
heart of the accomplished and beautiful Miss Linley. 

The local position of the organ of Combativeness has 
been already pointed out. And, to crown the full cata- 
logue of examples in proof of this, it is gratifying to 
adduce the portrait of the heroic and noble-minded 
Oustavus Adolphus, by Vandyke. 



DESTRUCTIVENESS. 



Whoever will take the trouble to place the scull of the 
tiger, or of any other carnivorous animal, by the side of 
that of the sheep, he is certain to find a marked protu- 
berance a little above the orifice of the ear in the former, 
while in the latter the same part is not only flat, but is 
even inclined to be hollow. In all herbivorous animals 
this peculiarity of form is, without a single exception, 
found to exist : and from the diminutive weasel to the 
majestic lion, through all the grades of the carnivorous 
species, the protuberance above the ears is a marked and 
invariable characteristic. There are some carnivorous 
animals which will feed on vegetables. The dog and the 
cat, for instance ; and even the bloodthirsty ferret may 
be got to relish milk ; but yet, it is certain that all three 
would prefer flesh. In the cat this part of the scull is 
relatively more developed than it is in the dog, and it is 
still larger in the ferret than in the cat. Are we hence 
to infer that the disposition to kill other animals is 
dependent upon the great size of this part of the brain? 
Certainly : if it is always found that this peculiar form 
is a concomitant of the disposition to destroy; and if, 
on the contrary, the smallness of the same part is inva- 
riably accompanied by the total absence of that instinct. 
Some animals take pleasure in killing more than they 
require for food, while others abstain from killing until 



142 DESTRUCTIVENESS. 

they feel the pangs of hunger. Here it may be interest- 
ing to observe another instance of the harmonious 
arrangement of the organs — how those, which mutually 
excite and assist one another are placed contiguously or 
nearly so. The organ, for instance, which causes a 
desire for food, apart from the stomach's influence, lies 
precisely in front of the organ which prompts the car- 
nivorous animal to kill for the sake of obtaining appro- 
priate sustenance ; and it is natural to suppose that any 
considerable degree of excitement in the action of one 
would, of necessity, be communicated to the other; and 
thus is a channel opened through which the desired object 
may be obtained. 

Some dogs take delight in killing rats, which they 
never eat, while others can scarcely be brought to touch 
such vermin. 

It is not because lions and tigers are furnished with 
powerful claws and formidable teeth and jaws for seizing 
and devouring their prey, that they are endowed with 
the disposition to kill whatever comes in their way; for 
there are powerful dogs, with the like physical conforma- 
tion, which, nevertheless, exhibit no tendency of the 
kind. The instinct to injure and destroy is often ex- 
hibited, on the contrary, by dogs which possess neither 
size nor strength. This physical apparatus is no more 
than the means awarded to animals in order to enable 
them to provide in the most effectual manner for the 
gratification of their instinctive wants. It is in the 
brain alone we are to look for the immediate source of 
those desires. 

Even in the small sculls of birds a great difference, as 
to the size of this organ, is discernible. But as the 
opening of the ear in birds is placed far back, the organ 



DESTRUCTIYENESS. 143 

of Destructiveness lies more towards the front. Grail was 
the first to notice that this part of the scull is much larger 
in carnivorous birds than in those which live on both 
animals and vegetables — in the cormorant, for instance, 
than in the duck, and larger in the duck than in the 
goose, which has a more exclusive liking for vegetables. 
May not the large prominence behind the orbits in the 
cormorant embrace the organ of Alimentiveness, as well 
'.as that of Destructiveness ? The cormorant is proverbially 
a glutton, and the gull is a voracious eater. The duck, 
too, is a more ravenous feeder than the goose. Hence it 
must be right to infer that the organ of the brain, which 
imparts the desire for food, should be proportionally 
larger in the cormorant than in the other birds. And as its 
position is in front of Destructiveness, there is reason to 
•suspect that the prominence, noticed by Grail, consists of 
two organs, namely, those which give the desire for food 
and the instinct to kill. In the weasel, the stoat, the 
ferret, and the polecat the scull, just above the ears, is 
very protuberant. In the common brown rat this part is 
larger than in the black rat ; but in these it is far inferior 
to the development of the same part in the weasel. In the 
>lynx the scull just over the ears is very large, and in that 
destructive animal, the Ursine opossum, the same region 
of the head is of immense bulk. To enumerate the names 
of a tithe of the animals endowed with fierce and de- 
structive propensities, that I have examined, and in which 
this organ is very salient, would be a tedious and an 
irksome task. It is enough to say that the coincidence 
is universal, and that smallness of the same part of the 
head is the invariable characteristic of herbivorous animals. 
What evidence of divine prescience and provision is 
presented by the fact that carnivorous animals are en- 



144 DESTRUCTIVENESS. 

dowed both with an imperious instinct to kill other 
animals, and with powerful instruments of destruction, 
because the food necessary for their sustenance could not 
be obtained without using violence and causing depriva- 
tion of life, while herbivorous animals, that feed upon 
unresisting objects, are destitute of such destructive- 
tendencies and weapons. 

Destructiveness is thus denned by Mr. Combe — " Uses,. 
desire to destroy noxious objects, and to kill for food. 
It is very discernible in carnivorous animals — Abuses^ 
cruelty, murder, desire to torment, tendency to passion, 
harshness and severity in speech and writing." 

Abundance of evidence has been already referred to in 
order to show that the organ of Destructiveness is very 
discernible in carnivorous animals. And as the category 
of its abuses so accurately expresses the mental qualities 
and tendencies by which, unhappily, some individuals 
have gained an unenviable notoriety, there can be no 
doubt that this organ, which we inherit in common with 
animals, prevails more in the heads of men, who have 
shamed human nature by the ferocity and cruelty of their 
actions, than in those humane and noble-minded person- 
ages whose lives it is edifying to contemplate. But 
great mistakes will occur if the destructive bias of any 
character be measured by the absolute size of the organ 
of that propensity, for in this way would some of the 
noblest of mankind be misapprehended. 

It is the proportion it bears in bulk to the organs of 
the moral and religious sentiments which is to guide us 
in forming an estimate of the influence of destructiveness 
upon the conduct and dispositions of individauls. For 
there are men and women, of noble mental qualities, in 
whose heads the organ is as large, often, indeed, larger 



DESTRUCTIVENESS. 145 

than in some vicious criminals who have suffered death 
for their murderous acts. But their acts were owing to 
the inherent weakness of the restraining moral powers, 
the organs of which were small, and therefore relatively 
inactive in those unhappy beings. But, as the love of 
being actively exercised is an inherent attribute of every 
well-developed organ, and as this organ of Destructiveness 
is found to be large in many noble characters, it must be 
capable of evincing some other quality or mode of action, 
besides the impulse to destroy inanimate objects, during 
the violence of passion, or to take away human life. 
What, then, is this separate mode of action — what is the 
nature of this quality ? It is, without doubt, an essential 
ingredient in the composition of an energetic character. 
But the energy with which it imbues the mind seems to 
be more impulsive and violent than that which is im- 
parted by Combativeness, though its influence is far less 
continuous. The latter attribute is attended with more 
coolness and self-possession than the former, and its 
activity is not at all so dependent upon exciting in- 
fluences. 

Hence it would be right to infer that an individual, 
with a large organ of Combativeness and a small one of 
Destructiveness, would display, in his conduct through 
life, a far higher amount of continuous energy than one 
endowed with large Destructiveness and small Com- 
bativeness, supposing the moral and intellectual attributes 
of both to be pretty nearly alike. The one prompts its 
possessor to encounter danger at all hazards, the other to 
destroy the menacing object. Combativeness stands in 
closer relationship to the mental elements of industry 
than Destructiveness, and its readiness to come to their 
aid and impel them onwards is more certain and 

N 



146 DESTRUCTIVENESS. 

continuous. A rare instance of such a combination of 
faculties — the industrious and propelling — appeared in 
the person of William Cobbett. In his head the organ of 
Destructiveness was large, but that of Combativeness was 
much larger. And, although he was never overscrupulous 
in his mode of assault, his onslaughts were characterised 
by uncommon ardour, unflagging perseverance, and 
crushing energy. 

The histories of ancient and modern nations afford 
appalling evidence of the deplorable results of the un- 
controlled energies of this faculty. Let us only call to 
mind the frantic ravings of the inhuman Caligula, and 
the still more maniacal outpouring of the destructive ten- 
dencies of Nero, in whom all the elements of the worst 
passions seemed to be concentrated. Caracalla was 
another monster of cruelty. Now, in the antique busts 
of these merciless men the part of the head lying above 
the ears is very protuberant, while the region of the 
moral sentiments is very low, especially in the two latter, 
for the bust of Caligula shows a better development in the 
moral portion of the head. And supposing this delinea- 
tion of his head to be tolerably accurate, it would account 
for the instances of goodness of disposition displayed by 
him in his more youthful days, and also seems, to some 
extent, confirmatory of De Quincy's conjecture, that the 
unhappy emperor was insane. 

Two remarkable incidents in the lives of the dictators, 
Sylla and Julius Csesar, will exemplify the difference of 
temper which accompanies a large development of the 
organs of Combativeness and Destructiveness, and that 
which characterises the union of large Combativeness and 
a less developed Destructiveness. 

When Lucretius Offella, to whom Sylla owed the taking 



DESTRUCTIVENESS. 147 

of Proeneste, solicited the consulship, although he had not 
jet attained to the dignity of prastor, Sylla commanded 
him to retire, and as he still persisted, ordered an officer 
to kill him on the instant. When the executioner of this 
cruel and ungrateful order was brought in custody before 
the dictator, he ordered him to be instantly released, and 
.then said, " Know that I have caused Lucretius Offella to be 
killed, because he resisted my authority," and then added 
the following tale. "A labourer ploughing was bitten by 
lice, he stopped twice to cleanse his shirt from them, but 
being bitten a third time, he now determined no longer 
to be interrupted in his work, and he threw his shirt into 
the fire. And I warn the conquered not to drive me to 
employ steel as well as fire against them for the third time." 

The striking incident in the career of Caesar, which 
Tbears upon this point, was a far greater provocative of 
anger, considering the critical and hazardous position in 
which he was then standing, and yet he did not evince 
the like cool ferocity even against an avowed enemy. 

On his arrival at Rome from the Rubicon, and after 
Pompey and his great party had fled, he went straight to 
the inner treasury to take the money there amassed, but 
which was never used except on the occurrence of some 
= great impending danger. Here he was met by Metellus, 
one of the tribunes, who refused to admit him. Where- 
upon Caesar said, " That if he did not desist he would 
lay him dead in the place," and, as if he felt sorry for 
having used such a threat, he added, " young man, it is 
harder for me to speak it than to do it." 

Adolescens, durius est mihi hoc dicere qucim facere. u A 
speech," says Lord Bacon, " compounded of the greatest 
terror and greatest clemency that could proceed out of 
the mouth of man." 

N 2 



148 DESTKUCTIVENESS. 

In the bust of Sylla, the organ of Destructiveness is 
much more protuberant than it is in the most authentic 
busts of Caesar. And yet with all his fierceness and 
systematic cruelty Sylla could not be devoid of generous 
tendencies, supposing this bust to be an accurate portrait 
of him. But these were completely overborne by other 
characteristics, according to the position in which he was 
placed. But I must remember that this is not the place 
for a full phrenological reading of his dispositions, else 
would the clashing elements of this most extraordinary 
man's character be easily explained by a careful observance 
of the indications of this bust. 

The organ of Destructiveness is immense in the bust of 
Caius Marius, who sullied his glory, as the heroic saviour 
of his country, by acts of the most ferocious cruelty at 
the close of his mortal career. In Marius, this part of 
the head was larger than it was in Sylla. He was r 
therefore, naturally more violent, though Sylla was more 
systematically cruel. On the contrary, the organ is 
comparatively very small in the busts of Cicero and 
Horace. This part is much larger in the bust of Cato, the 
Censor, than in that of Aristides. In the fiery Alcibiades 
this part of the head is large; it is rather small in the 
gentle poet, Theocritus. What a striking difference is 
observable as to the size of this organ in the best portraits 
of Luther and Melancthon. In the former it is large, 
in the latter very small. It is small in the portrait of 
Bishop Ridley, and enormously large in the ferocious 
reformer, John Knox. In the fine print of the impetuous 
and turbulent cardinal De Retz, by Nanteuil, the great 
width of the head catches the eye, while the same part 
is small, when compared to the rest of the head, in 
Audran's print of the gentle and saintly Fenelon. It is 



DESTEUCTIVENESS. 149 

-very large in Charles the Twelfth, and not at all a 
characteristic feature in the brave and benevolent Crillon, 
the favourite general of Henry the Fourth of France. 
This part of the head is very large in the best busts and 
portraits of Oliver Cromwell. It is moderate in those 
of the incomparable Greorge "Washington. To enumerate 
the vast number of cases of criminals, impelled by the 
instinct to murder, and in whom the organ of Destruc- 
tiveness is very large, would be tedious ; but yet, two or 
three may be referred to, and the facts in evidence being 
casts from nature, there can be no doubt of their correct- 
ness as to form. In the wholesale murderers, Lacinaire 
of Paris and Madame Grotfried of Berlin, this organ is 
surprisingly protuberant, but it is small in the Hindoo 
widow, who was a willing sacrifice on her husband's 
grave. In Patch, the sly murderer of his best friend, 
and in Rush, who assassinated his own relatives, the 
same part of the head is very large, whilst it is very small 
in the cast of the benevolent Mr. Gross, and in that of 
Robert Owen, whose instinctive consciousness of the 
absence of destructive tendencies in himself led him 
erroneously to conclude that they were not really inherent 
in the nature of man. In the cast of Crabbe, the poet, 
this organ is also small. And it is interesting to con- 
trast the portrait of King Henry the Eighth, after 
Holbein, in Lodge's collection, with that of the chival- 
rous and noble cavalier, and distinguished poet, Henry 
Howard, Earl of Surrey, who was the innocent victim 
of the sanguinary temper of that selfish and remorseless 
tyrant. In the portrait of the king, the head, just 
above the ears, is greatly expanded. In that of the gallant 
Surrey it is flat. 

There cannot exist a doubt upon the mind of any one 



150 DESTRUCTIVENESS. 

who will take the pains to search for evidence in the 
book of nature, that the seat of the organ of Destruc- 
tiveness is truly established. And, as to the separate 
existence of this elementary faculty, the almost total 
absence of it in some kinds of animals, and its predomi- 
nant and uncontrollable power over the actions of others r 
afford an incontrovertible proof. The lamb and the lion 
are strong examples of these opposite idiosyncracies ; and 
in perfect accordance with every other established fact 
in connection with the science of Phrenology, the scull 
of the lamb is depressed at the seat of this organ, 
while that of the lion is immensely protuberant. The 
remarkable contrast presented in this region of the 
head between Robert Owen, the gentle-minded, peace- 
seeking philanthropist, and John Bellingham, the san- 
guinary, but somewhat demented, assassin of the Prime 
Minister, Spencer Pereival, is well exemplified in Plate 4. 
And in Plate 5 the disparity between Mr. Goss and Patch 
is equally striking. 



SECRETIVENESS 



Just above the organ of Destructiveness there is a con- 
volution of the brain, which runs horizontally to within 
nearly two inches of the external angle of the eye. 
Dr. Gall observed that this part of the head was very 
protuberant in those persons whose conduct was strikingly 
characterised by cunning and dissimulation. And, having 
found his first impressions corroborated in all his sub- 
sequent extensive investigations, he named it the organ 
of Cunning. But, as cunning is akin to deception, and 
deception to dishonesty, it would scarcely be fit to desig- 
nate many noble characters, in whom this organ may be 
salient, as cunning dissimulators. The abstract nature 
of this faculty is the disposition to conceal. Spurzheim 
has, therefore, termed it Secretiveness, and this is the 
name which is now universally adopted. That the in- 
stinct to conceal is an elementary ingredient of the mind 
is manifest in the conduct of some animals. The fox 
and the magpie are proverbial for their inveterate ten- 
dency to conceal. It is so predominant a feature in the 
instincts of the latter that he delights in concealing things 
which are unfit for food, and not in any respect adapted 
to be of the slightest use to the pilfering bird himself. 
The dog will conceal the bone which he does not require 
for present use : and the secretive disposition is mani- 
fested to an extraordinary extent in all the feline animals. 



152 SECRETIVENESS. 

How stealthily the tiger comes upon his prey; and the 
same disposition in the domestic cat is patent to every 
one. That the cunning movements of these animals do 
not proceed from superior sagacity is obvious, since 
neither the cat nor the tiger can compete, in regard to 
docility or instinctive sagacity, with the dog and the 
horse ; and yet neither of these is characterised by secre- 
tive tendencies ; the horse seems especially free from 
them, although, occasionally, he has been found to act 
in a cunning manner. The sheep seems to be altogether 
free from such a propensity; nor is it at all needful 
to the sheep, which is exposed to no peril in the pro- 
curing of its food. To the tiger, on the contrary, 
cunning is indispensable. He could not exist without it ; 
for the animals upon which his sustenance depends are 
far more swift of foot than himself; and, from their 
predominant caution, are likely to be on their guard. 
Debarred by nature of the capacity for openly and directly 
reaching his prey, he is compensated for that want by 
the disposition to conceal, which so signally characterises 
all his habits and movements, and enables him to steal 
towards his intended victim until he can effectually 
pounce upon him. 

The separate existence of the propensity to conceal is 
proved, both negatively and positively, by the instinctive 
actions of animals. Some children are endowed with it 
in a far higher degree than others ; and its excessive 
activity is often productive of great mischief. Much 
disturbance may also be caused in social intercourse by 
persons who are too scantily supplied with it ; for it 
prompts to the judicious and morally permissible con- 
cealment of our own thoughts, as well as to the prudent 
reserve which enables us to keep within ourselves the 



SECEETIVENESS. 153 

intentions confided to us by others. It is, therefore, a 
matter of great importance to see that the position of 
the organ of Secretiveness should be 'accurately defined. 
To this end a vast amount of evidence has been recorded 
which places beyond a doubt the fact that the scull of the 
tiger, and of every animal of the feline kind, presents a 
great protuberance, resembling a considerable segment 
of a circle, above the orifice of the ear. This segment 
comprises two organs, Destructiveness and Secretiveness, 
the latter of which lies exactly over the former. And 
an equal amount of proof exists as to the entire absence 
of any such protuberance in the scull of the sheep, or any 
other purely herbivorous animal. 

This part of the head is found to be extremely large in 
those criminals who have dispatched their victims by 
poison or other secret means— much larger than it is 
found to be in the heads of those who have committed 
murder in a more rash and daring manner. In 
Courvoisier, for instance, the cunning and cautious mur- 
derer of Lord William Russell, the organ is much larger 
than it is in Rush, the open and fearless slayer of the 
Jermy family. In Patch it was also very prominent; 
but this bad, ungrateful man had less caution than Cour- 
voisier. In the wicked and deceitful Madame Gotfried, 
whose sanguinary temper has been already noticed, the 
organ of Secretiveness is extremely large, and in Palmer, 
the Rugeley poisoner, it is exceedingly salient and un- 
checked by Conscientiousness and Attachment. It is very 
small in Robert Owen, in the poet Crabbe, in Sir Walter 
Scott. But it is not necessary to accumulate instances. 
Any one who will take the trouble of seeking for evi- 
dence will find the fact to be as it is here stated (see 
Plates 4 and 5). 



154 SECRETIVENESS. 

The predominance of this organ affords an indication 
of insincerity of character. It enables a man who pos- 
sesses it in a high degree to conceal his real motives and 
intentions ; and when it is connected with good talents, 
unaccompanied by an adequate amount of the organs of 
the moral sense, we have a character who knows well 
how to act his part through life : like Augustus Csesar, 
who, on his death-bed, asked his attendants if he had 
not acted his part well, and called upon them for a 
plaudit. In all the busts of this Emperor this region of 
the head is very prominent. With an ample endowment 
of many noble qualities, Pompey the Great was yet 
wanting in sincerity, when his ambitious expectations 
were likely to be thwarted by the political intrigues of 
his opponents. He then set about his work u Occultior 
non melior" as Tacitus says of him ; and Sallust, who 
was no friend of his, says he acted " ore probo, animo 
inverecundo." And, in accordance with this tendency to 
dissemble, the fine antique bust of Pompey is very wide 
at the sides, although it is also indicative of high moral 
and generous qualities. With a far inferior development 
of the moral region of the head, the bust of Caius Marius- 
is remarkably large where the organ of Secretiveness is- 
located: and on various occasions that great man was 
guilty of acts of great duplicity. 

There cannot be a doubt but that a large endowment 
of this faculty is of infinite advantage to every diploma- 
tist ; especially when it is under the control of the moral 
sentiments. But, when it becomes the mainspring of 
political conduct, it is detestable, and not always success- 
ful ; " For, surely," says Lord Bacon, " the continual 
habit of dissimulation is but a weak and sluggish cun- 
ning, and not greatly politic." 



SECKETIVENESS. 155 

The great mind of Oliver Cromwell seemed to be 
deeply imbued with secretive tendencies, and this organ 
is not an unattractive feature in the best portraits and 
busts of that wonderful man. In Banks' fine bust of 
Warren Hastings the sides of the head, where the organs 
of Secretiveness lie, are uncommonly large : and, un- 
doubtedly, this affection was a prevailing attribute of 
his character : while it is small in Nollekens' bust of 
the sincere, undissembling Marquis of Wellesley. In 
Houdon's bust of Yoltaire, the same part of the head is 
very salient ; and though open and bold in the enuncia- 
tion of his opinions, genuine sincerity could not be a 
leading element of the character of that great genius, 
supposing this bust to be a correct portrait of him. 

The evil results of the paramount influence of this 
feeling renders it a matter of the first importance to 
ascertain, at an early period of childhood, the proportion 
which its organ bears to the development of the organs 
of the moral and intellectual faculties. For young per- 
sons endowed with a considerable amount of it, are apt 
to feign excuses in order to avoid the rebukes or remon- 
strances of their instructors. And this is the more likely 
to be the case, if the desire of approbation, which renders 
one always sensitive to blame, be a leading feature of 
the disposition. In public schools an early knowledge 
of its presence as an active element of the character of 
a pupil would serve to enable the teacher to check the 
spread of its contaminating influence, and thus add to 
the lasting prosperity of his establishment, and at the 
same time strengthen and confirm moral tendencies in 
the plastic minds of his pupils. 

It should be observed that the abuses of this faculty 
are not, necessarily, attendant upon the largeness of its 



156 SECRETIVENESS. 

organ. Neither is exemption from its abuse always the 
result of the moderate development of it. For a high 
sense of equity, and the love of preserving an honour- 
able reputation, combined with self-respect, will, spon- 
taneously, and without intellectual calculation as to the 
possibility of inauspicious consequences, check any 
tendency to duplicity or insincerity : while, in the com- 
parative absence of those noble attributes, even moderate 
Secretiveness may degenerate into deception in trying 
situations. 

Secretiveness is thus accurately defined by Combe. 
" Uses : tendency to restrain within the mind the various 
emotions and ideas that involuntarily present themselves, 
till the judgment has approved of giving them utterance. 
It is simply the tendency to conceal and is an ingredient 
in prudence. Abuses : cunning, deceit, duplicity, and 
lying." The famous diplomatist, Talleyrand, is reported 
to have said that the use of language was for concealment 
of our thoughts ; and his conduct through life evinced 
characteristic insincerity. In the cast of his head the 
organ of Secretiveness is large, while that of Conscien- 
tiousness is not so ; and in regard to this organ, it 
affords a striking contrast to the head of Wellington, 
who was, in every position, eminently candid and 
straightforward. 

The seat of the organ of Secretiveness is fully 
established. 



ACUUISITITENESS. 



De. Gall calls the faculty, which is next to engage atten- 
tion, Sentiment of Property, Instinct of Providing, 
Covetousness, Propensity to Theft. 

It seems evident enough that the terms used by Grail to 
designate this faculty convey the clearest notion of the 
effect of the proper use as well as the abuse of it. But, 
as Acquisitiveness is the name, now universally adopted, 
it may be as well to retain it, although it is by no 
means precise enough, since this faculty does not com- 
prehend within its sphere of action the desire of acquiring 
knowledge. 

That the desire of acquiring property is not an affection 
growing out of the necessities of society and the various 
wants of individuals, and that it is not the result of a 
compact, entered into by communities of civilised men, is 
certain, since the same feeling is strongly manifested by 
many savage tribes, who are fully sensible of the right 
which every member of the community has to hold and 
to use, as his own, the wigwam he has raised and the 
trophies he has acquired by his courage and perseverance : 
although ignorance and want of a high endowment of 
the moral sense often causes them to form an erroneous 
estimate of the rights of others. And as to the spoils, 
which savages gain by the combined efforts of the tribe, 
they are considered to be the property of the community, 
which they share with one another, and will fight, even 
unto death, to prevent other tribes from depriving them. 



158 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

of what they feel, by means of a primitive instinct of their 
nature, to be their own — their property. Cuvier, as 
quoted by Gall, is wrong, then, when he says that, " The 
idea of property does not exist in savages, and they 
cannot have the same notion of theft as civilised nations 
have." Surely it is illogical to conclude that savage 
nations, because they are less sensible of moral duties, 
and less intelligent of the uses to which property may be 
applied than civilised ones, are therefore not naturally 
endowed with a sense of property. The propensity to 
steal is in itself the strongest proof of the existence of a 
primitive feeling which desires to acquire property ; but 
the proof acquires additional force, when the passion for 
hoarding money and other kinds of property takes 
possession of the soul, while there is, at the same time, 
a total absence of any inclination to make use of it for 
the sake of gratifying any other want. For example, 
when a man of immense fortune, the augmentation of 
which seemed to be the sole object of his still shrewd 
understanding, was found to lead a life of perpetual 
seclusion, in an obscure apartment, from which nothing 
that had once entered it was allowed to be removed, 
be the object ever so valueless, and who, with the ex- 
ception of one coarse, plentiful meal a day, denied 
himself the commonest comforts of life, it would be 
thought, and not without reason, that the mind of such 
a man had merged within the confines of lunacy ; but, 
though his faculties may have lost their equipoise in 
regard to the delusions of avarice, he still retained his 
intellectual acuteness seemingly unimpaired. For in a 
very long pecuniary account, amounting to many thou- 
sands of pounds, he detected that there was still one 
penny due to him, and he waited for some hours while 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 159 

the clerks, where his pecuniary investments lay, were 
searching the account books to satisfy him. And it 
resulted in his being right. The miserly disposition of 
Mr. Elwes and the soundness of his judgment are well- 
-known facts. 

An individual died in Chelsea, not many years ago, 
who contrived to accumulate nearly half a million of 
money; and yet his house was always the abode of 
penury. 

Such cases as these are of themselves enough to prove 
the existence of a special faculty which gives the desire 
to accumulate property, irrespective of the wish to be 
independent, or of enjoying the good things of life, which 
money alone can obtain. 

Gall, when he was physician to the deaf and dumb 
institution at Vienna, found that some of the poor chil- 
dren had no inclination to pilfer ; while others, who were 
inclined to do so, were more or less easily persuaded to 
abstain from taking what did not belong to them: but 
that a few were incorrigible thieves. It could not be 
from any knowledge of the impropriety of stealing that 
the first class abstained from pilfering. It evidently was 
the result of the absence of any instinctive desire to 
acquire property. Nor can the inordinate strength of 
the propensity in the others be derivable from their sense 
of the uses to which their acquisitions could be applied. 

Do we not see it sometimes reported in the newspapers 
that even ladies of some standing in society, both young 
and old, are guilty of larceny at shops and bazaars, 
although they are not destitute of the means of pur- 
chasing the articles which they are thus instinctively 
impelled to steal. There have been individuals who have 
taken silver spoons from the tables of their friends 



160 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

apparently without any intention of keeping them, but 
from the inward pleasure afforded by the act of abduction. 
Some years ago a lady of rank in this country was- 
allowed by tradesmen, who were aware of her unfortu- 
nate habit, to purloin things of value from their shops, 
because they knew that on their sending in a bill of the 
things, she would instantly pay the amount. 

Some of the lower animals, also, possess this propen- 
sity in a remarkable degree. It is strikingly characteristic 
of the magpie and many other birds. And they seem to 
be able to appreciate what belongs to them. Old birds, 
it is said, retain possession of the nest built by themselves,, 
while the young ones, which are hatched and reared in 
it, have, in due time, to construct nests for themselves, 
respectively. And migratory birds are known to return 
after a season, to the haunts which they had previously 
occupied and forcibly to repel all intruders. The dispo- 
sition of the ant to provide food and laboriously store it 
up for its sustenance through the winter, does not proceed 
from any intellectual foresight of the impossibility of 
collecting such a store of provisions during the cold, 
unproductive winter months. No, it is because the 
primitive feeling which prompts the little creature to ac- 
quire food, and to hoard it, becomes more ardent in the 
summer heat, owing, no doubt, to increased activity in 
the circulation of blood through the brain. The bee is 
another extraordinary example of the instinctive nature 
of the desire of providing against future wants, the occur- 
rence of which they cannot be supposed to expect, since 
they are unendowed with intellectual foresight. And is 
it not a striking mark of the wisdom and goodness of the 
Creator, that a great augmentation of that desire should 
take place at the very time when Nature spreads before 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 161 

them the beautiful materials from which they extract 
their delicious food? That these insects are impressed 
with a sense that the hive, with its contents, is their own 
— their property — is shown by the furious attacks they 
make upon anything that seems likely to deprive them 
of it. 

With such incontrovertible evidence before us, it would 
be irrational to deny that the desire to gain property, and 
to take care of it, is an elementary faculty which displays 
itself in various degrees of strength, both in man and 
animals. And as such an admission implies the presence 
of a distinct organ, through which that propensity can 
alone be manifested, its local position shall now be pointed 
out. 

Gall made the discovery of the true place of the organ 
of Acquisitiveness, first among youths of the lowest class, 
whom he used to congregate in his house, and to whom he 
gave money, with the view of inducing them to show 
their natural tendencies. Some of these took great 
pleasure in telling of their adroitness in pilfering without 
being detected. Others had no objection to share in the 
plunder, but were not in the habit of committing theft 
themselves, while a third part of them turned away, as if 
surprised at such wickedness. 

In the first, Gall always found a marked protuberance 
at the side of the head, in front of Secretiveness, and a 
little higher up. In the second the development of the 
same part was much less, and in the third class it was 
quite flat. And, although the general conformation of 
the head differed widely in all of them, there was always 
a perfect coincidence in regard to the shape of it at the 
temples. This evidence was confirmed by the heads of 
the poor children at the deaf and dumb school. In 

o 



162 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

hospitals, and in prisons also, lie found the disposition to 
steal, and great breadth of head at the same spot, to be 
invariably coincident, and an utter indisposition to steal 
or be covetous was always accompanied by flatness of the 
same part of the head. 

Spurzheim, who witnessed many of these cases in 
common with Gall, testifies to the same fact, and their 
observations have been confirmed by all subsequent 
investigators. The museum of Mr. De Ville contained a 
sufficient amount of evidence, regarding this point, to 
confound the prejudice of the most sceptical opponents. 
But it must not be forgotten that in the heads of all 
incorrigible thieves there is also a marked deficiency of 
the moral organs, but especially of Conscientiousness. For 
whenever a large organ of Acquisitiveness is found in 
conjunction with a predominant development of the moral 
organs, it imbues the mind with a powerful incentive to 
honourable industry, and renders the possession of property 
sacred. 

Amongst the most diabolical instances of the dominant 
influence of this faculty, which have happened in this 
country, must be reckoned the culprits Burke and Hare 
of Edinburgh, and Bishop and Williams of London. These 
men murdered their helpless victims in order to earn a 
livelihood by the sale of their bodies to the anatomists. In 
the casts ©f their heads the organ of Acquisitiveness, and 
also those of Secretiveness and Destructiveness, are very 
large, while the moral region is remarkably low. In 
Burke the organ of Benevolence was more developed 
than in the others, and it appeared that he required the 
stimulus of whisky before he could bring himself to 
dispatch his prey. The others did not seem to feel that 
they were doing what was wrong, if they could but escape 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 163 

detection. The organ is very large in John Lynn of 
Belfast, who went to his father's house to demand a bird 
which he said was his own, and, when the old man 
refused to order his daughter to give it up, the ferocious 
savage murdered him with a pair of tongs. In this man 
the organs of Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Self- 
esteem were very large, and Conscientiousness small. In 
Puckle, the accomplice of the murderer Locksley, Acqui- 
sitiveness is very large. He refused to share the spoil; 
and, when his companion insisted upon a fair division, 
Puckle was overheard saying that if Locksley would not 
desist from demanding his share he would turn king's 
evidence. They were both forthwith arrested, tried, 
convicted, and hanged. Puckle had also large Self- 
esteem and moderate caution. In Rush, Courvoisier, 
and Greenacre, whose career of villany is more recent, 
the organ of Acquisitiveness is very protuberant, while 
the development of the moral portion of the head was, 
from its imperfection in each, inadequate to restrain 
the dishonest exercise of this organ. The head of 
Greenacre, indeed, is indicative of a great deficiency 
of the moral and religious sentiments, while Acquisi- 
tiveness is remarkably salient. In Patch, the heartless 
murderer of his generous and confiding friend, in order 
to get his property, the organ of Acquisitiveness is 
exceedingly large (see Plate 5). 

It would be tedious to enter further into details with 
respect to the positive evidence of the existence of this 
organ and its seat in the brain, yet it may be well to 
adduce a few well-known negative instances. 

The organ is small in the masks of Lord Chatham and 
his son William Pitt, and disinterestedness with regard 
to money was a marked feature of their characters. 

O 2 



164 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

Relative smallness of the same part of the head charac- 
terises the portraits of many other public men upon whom 
the love of property seemed to have little influence. It 
is small in the head of Robert Owen, who certainly never 
showed any fondness for accumulating property. He 
was not careful enough of it. There is the cast of the 
head of a Mr. Goss, in which the organ is remarkably 
small. He is said to have shown very little regard for 
money, and being a man of property, he distributed a 
great deal of it in relieving the wants and embarrassments 
of persons who had no personal claim on him (see 
Plate 5). In Eustache, the benevolent negro, who had 
the prize of virtue bestowed on him at Paris for his rare 
generosity, the organ is of moderate size. 

Insanity is sometimes the result of the inordinate 
activity of the organ of Acquisitiveness, and there was 
in this country lately a man who had made an enormous 
fortune by trade. Nevertheless, fear of the workhouse 
was always agitating him. But it is said that he found 
great relief from receiving a weekly stipend from his own 
house of business amounting to no more than twenty 
shillings. Other men might be named who own large 
fortunes, and yet are constantly in dread of falling into 
the jaws of famine. These cases afford additional tes- 
timony of the independent existence of this faculty, 
but evidence is not producible as to the conformation 
of the heads of these unhappy individuals. Experience, 
however, truly warrants the inference that the part of the 
brain called the organ of Acquisitiveness is, in each and 
all of them, in a morbid condition. To sanction this 
inference I will briefly mention a case. 

A journeyman watchmaker, Mr. M , became a 

successful Baptist preacher, and contrived to secure a 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 165 

large sum of money. But the more he gained the more 
anxious he became with regard to property, until at last 
he fell into a monomaniacal state ; and, although capable 
-of conversing rationally on other matters, he lost his 
balance and became confused whenever the subject of 
property was touched upon. In this man's head the 
organ of Acquisitiveness was very large ; and, besides, 
upon examining the brain, it was found to be in a 
softened, disorganised state, exactly beneath the exter- 
nal protuberance which Gall calls the organ of the 
Instinct of Property. 

Two more facts, the one an affirmative, the other a 
negative proof, just now occur to me, which I would fain 
mention. The late Mr. Deville was once invited by some 
gentlemen to accompany them to St. Pancras workhouse, 
in order to make a phrenological survey of the inmates. 
On this occasion he was struck by the immense promi- 
nence of the organ of Acquisitiveness in one of the men. 
This man, in accordance with the prediction of Deville, 
had been frequently guilty of petty larceny. He was, in 
fact, a most covetous creature. He even refused to allow 
a cast of his head to be taken, although he was flatter- 
ingly told that they would place it in a gallery with the 
oasts of great men. But though he seemed pleased at 
this intimation (for he had a very large organ of Self- 
esteem), he still refused. He consented, however, when 
.he had ten shillings put into his hand by a colonel, who 
was the principal person present. But this did not 
satisfy his craving for money, for when Deville was 
leaving the house this avaricious creature stood before 
him at the door, and asked him for some silver. On 
being told that the colonel had already paid him well, he 
:said "Ah, but you have taken the head and ought to 



166 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

pay me for it." In this case, excessive covetousness was 
coincident with a very large organ of Acquisitiveness, 
stimulated by inordinate self-love. The other was a 
poor woman endowed with a cerebral organization of 
rare excellence, who had suffered an attack of temporary 
insanity, in consequence of a wound inflicted, without her 
cognizance, on her moral sense. In the head of this poor 
woman the organ of Acquisitiveness is very small. And 
as a cast of her head also was wished for, she was asked 
to say how much money she required for consenting to 
have it taken. Her reply was, that they might take 
the cast without cost, as she did not want money. She 
was taken care of there, and had what she required. In 
the former, the head was in a high degree convex at the 
lower part of the temple, about an inch and a half from 
the external angle of the eye. In the latter, the same 
part was flat, and even inclining to be concave, on one- 
side especially. 

The love of property, then, is an elementary attribute 
of the human mind, which exercises a dominant influence 
over our actions. It is to create a salutary check to its 
exorbitant and selfish instincts that intelligence, prompted 
by that divine combination of conscientiousness and 
benevolence, denominated equity, has framed laws to 
render property secure in the hands of those who have 
honestly earned or inherited it. 

What is it that gave rise, at first, to the making of 
laws for the protection of property, but the occasional 
instances, manifested by some individuals, of insatiate 
craving for the property of others, and the violent 
measures resorted to by some to obtain possession of what 
was not their own ? The desire to acquire property, then, 
must be an elementary instinct of our nature, and existed. 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 167 

in the days of Cain, as it does now, before human laws 
were thought of. 

This sentiment is, perhaps, of all the primitive powers, 
generally the most potent instigator of the active and 
industrious use of the intellectual faculties. It is in the 
highest degree an organ of Concentrativeness, though 
like every other simple abstract faculty, it cannot produce 
the effects of intellectual concentration. 

The possession of property, when it is well made use 
of, is the fertile source of happiness to him that gives and 
him that takes. It enables its possessor to comfort those 
who, without means, are pining in sickness and in sorrow, 
and to build a resting-place for the " weary and heavy 
laden," as well as places of moral and intellectual instruc- 
tion for the children of the poor. Nations abounding in 
wealth can furnish materials for the preservation of their 
independence, while those in want of it must rely upon 
the plunder of their enemies for subsistence. But to 
effect this object they must be stronger and better dis- 
ciplined than their foes. Nevertheless, when a people 
individually and collectively consider riches their summum 
honimi, as the Carthagenians did of old, they are sure, 
sooner or later, to succumb to some unscrupulous, rapa- 
cious invader. Julius Caesar felt that money conferred 
power on its possessor when he uttered that memorable 
saying, namely, "that two things were requisite for 
conquest — money and soldiers — for with money you can 
get soldiers, and with soldiers you can get money." 

Effectually to secure the safety of one's native land, 
then, it is necessary to accumulate property. But to 
effect this men should be industrious and frugal. In- 
dustry and frugality are therefore necessary ingredients 
of patriotism, for without money the noblest aspirations 



168 ACQUISITIVENESS. 

:of patriots are evermore likely to be foiled. Still the 
great God of all has not granted that the victory should 
always be with the strong, 

But though the accumulator of money is indirectly 
doing a patriotic act, yet he may not be, in the least 
degree, inspired with the feelings which warm the breast 
of the patriot. Indeed, it is proverbial that the purest 
and most disinterested patriots cared little for money. 
Property is, therefore, an auxiliary, but not a quality of 
patriotism. From want of property persons, possessing 
the moral sense in a high degree, are liable to have their 
principles suspected, when embarrassments prevent them 
from fulfilling their engagements within the stipulated 
period. And, from the same cause, individuals of the 
most affectionate, benevolent, and unselfish dispositions 
are precluded from the hope of being able to relieve 
distress in all cases, or to promote the independence and 
happiness of those that are near and dear to them. 

To afford parents a rational hope that their children 
shall never be placed in such a dangerous and dishearten- 
ing position, there must not be any want of care in 
training them to habits of industry and frugality. With- 
out the latter attribute, even industry and skill will be 
unavailing. 

Yet, with all the good results which arise from the 
well-directed energy of the sense of property, it is essen- 
tially an animal feeling or propensity; and it has been 
always, and in all climes, the fertile source of crime and 
misery. 

If we would have a thorough notion of the perfidious 
nature of the unhallowed effects of covetousness, unre- 
strained by moral principle, it is only necessary to read 
the speeches of Cicero against Verres, the infamous 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 169 

Roman governor of Sicily ; or the no less eloquent orations 
of Edmund Burke in supporting his charges against 
Warren Hastings, for sanctioning the cruel tortures to 
which his subordinates put the unfortunate Hindoos, with 
the view of extorting from them all their worldly means 
of subsistence. 

Sometimes this faculty may be well developed, and 
yet there may be no disposition to accumulate wealth. 
It then finds pleasurable excitement in collecting such 
objects as are pleasing to the other leading faculties. 
Large Form and Colour, for instance, would lead to the 
collection of pictures and works of art in general. The 
lover of music will spend his money in accumulating 
the finest violins to be found, if that happen to be his 
favourite instrument ; and the antiquarian will amass 
everything he can find which are the curious remains of 
times long gone by. The naturalist, like John Hunter, 
will spend almost his last shilling to get some rare object 
of natural history. And men fond of literature are known 
to have purchased books which they have never even 
opened from their wrappers. The organ is established 
beyond doubt. 



170 



CONSTKUCTIVENESS 



This is another of the faculties which man possesses in 
common with the inferior animals. Some of these, 
however, are entirely destitute of the mechanical instinct, 
while others are, in a striking measure, endowed with 
it. And this power is not dependent upon the superior 
docility of the animal, since it has been denied to the 
sagacious dog and the tractable horse, and conferred on 
the bee and the beaver. Even birds, that are so low in 
the scale of intelligence, manifest great mechanical apti- 
tude in the manner of building their nests. These facts 
alone are enough to show that this instinctive faculty 
of the mind does not at all depend upon the amount of 
intelligence with which an animal is gifted. But when 
it is found to be an indubitable fact that men of the 
highest intellectual endowments have never evinced the 
slightest tendency to devote themselves to practical 
mechanics, or to take much pleasure in mechanical 
science, it is not going too far to say that all mental 
operations which are purely intellectual can be successfully 
carried on without the aid of the faculty called Construc- 
tiveness, although it has been supposed by some persons 
unacquainted with the principles of Phrenology, that it 
is an essential ingredient of the talent for literary com- 
position. 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 171 

But if this were the case the organ should be large in 
all those great orators whose sentences are remarkable 
for the harmonious collocation of the words of which they 
are composed. But, since it is only of moderate develop- 
ment in the masks of Chatham, Pitt, and Fox, with many 
others, whose readiness in the constructing of sentences 
was instinctively active, it is clear that the mechanical 
faculty is not needed for the display of those qualities. 
Cicero never evinced any predilection for mechanics, and 
yet, is there to be found in the whole range of literature 
anything more harmonious than the style of his literary 
compositions ? And in poetry where is to be found 
any one superior to Horace in the power of producing 
melodious associations of words ? Although, like Rome's 
greatest orator, he was not endowed with mechanical 
tendencies. Oh ! no. This talent for literary composition 
depends much upon the vigour and the active presence 
of the organs of Time and Order, as has been already 
noticed when treating of intellectual Concentration, and 
which shall be further explained hereafter. 

But if Cicero and Horace used language as the fitting 
exponent of their noble intellectual conceptions, how came 
it to pass that Archimedes loved to give practical effect to 
his grand geometrical conceptions by means of the con- 
structive faculty? It is because this faculty was a 
predominant ingredient of his mental constitution. And 
the cause of this predominance may be traced to the 
prominence of the organ of Constructiveness in the bust 
said to be of him. The same organ is remarkably salient 
in the bust of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to whose 
mechanical and engineering skill was due, in a great 
measure, the final victory of Augustus over the brave son 
of the great Pompey, while it is flat in the fine character- 



172 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

istic bust of Lucian, whose dislike to the pursuit of the 
sculptor's art, which requires a considerable amount of 
manual dexterity, caused him to forsake it for the paths 
of literature, which were more germane to his paramount 
organ of language. And is it not certain that, like 
Horace and Cicero, he has, in his inimitable dialogues, 
left signal evidences of his power to build up a literary 
temple, remarkable for the originality of its form and the 
constructional harmony of its proportion ? 

The primitive nature of the mechanical tendency is 
confirmed by the fact that some children of tender age 
have displayed great manual dexterity in the construction 
of machines, in modelling, and in drawing, without the 
prompting of emulation or the influence of example. 
Canova and Chantrey in early childhood were led by 
their own spontaneous instincts to model figures, even 
without knowing the plastic material which is used for 
that purpose, and without instruction or suggestion from 
any quarter. The facility and grace evinced by Sir 
Thomas Lawrence, when a mere child, in his drawings, 
was the surprise and admiration of his friends. Michael 
Angelo and Sir Christopher Wren in early boyhood 
produced tokens of their future excellence in the charming 
arts of sculpture and architecture. The precocious genius 
of Voltaire, and that of Pope, " the little nightingale of 
Twickenham," did not assume a like form. And why 
not ? It was not in the nature of things that they should 
do so, because they possessed not a sufficient endowment 
of that organ in the brain which is conspicuously charac- 
teristic of great mechanicians and artists. Their genius 
shone forth in the transparent garb of language, which 
is the most complete exponent of our thoughts and feel- 
ings, as well as the most affecting, though, in some cases, 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 173 

perhaps, the palm must be awarded to music. So thought 
Thomas Moore, when he was composing his beautiful 
melody, which begins thus — 

" Music, oh, how faint, how weak 
Language fades before thy spell ; 
Why should feeling ever speak 
"When thou canst tell its tale so well ? " 

The wonderful influence of the constructive faculty in 
promoting the blessings of civilisation cannot be too 
highly extolled, and the men who, through its means, 
have led the way to this happy consummation are entitled 
to rank amongst the greatest benefactors of mankind. 
To James Watt is due the transcendent merit of having 
brought the steam engine almost to a state of perfection, 
though he cannot claim the honour of having been the 
first to attempt the construction of it, even in its rudest 
form. It may now be said, almost without exaggeration, 
that it has annihilated both time and space, since, without 
its potent aid, as it is applied to navigation, the submarine 
electric telegraph cable could not have been successfully 
laid. Here the eminent name of Wheatstone recurs to 
the memory. And it cannot be forgotten that to the 
mechanical genius of the humble and comparatively 
illiterate miner, George Stevenson, we owe the locomo- 
tive and the Geordie safety lamp. Nor should the 
name of that great and bold mechanical genius, John 
Smeaton, be omitted here — Smeaton, the builder of that 
seemingly indestructible lighthouse upon the Eddystone 
Bock, and Eennie, that prince of bridge makers. And 
the Brunells, both father and son, with the younger 
Stevenson. How grand are some of the efforts of their 
mechanical genius ! And what bright prospects are held 
out to us, through the labours of all these great men, of 



174 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

the rapid advent of happiness — more complete and more 
■widely diffused than it has ever yet been the lot of 
mankind to enjoy. 

Now the true source of this special talent must, like 
that of every other talent, be sought for in the anterior 
lobe of the brain, the lineaments of which are displayed 
with undeniable exactness upon the forehead ; unless the 
condition of the scull be altered by disease or extreme 
old age. 

But it should always be borne in mind that this organ 
does not include within the scope of its action all the 
qualities necessary for the carrjang out of its mechanical 
suggestions : for without an adequate development of the 
organs of Form, Size, or the proportional fitness of parts, 
Weight, or the sense of resistance, and Locality, or the 
sense of the relative local position of things, with that of 
Order, the simple impulse to construct would avail but 
little. On the other hand, these organs, howsoever well 
developed, would prove to be utterly inadequate to suggest 
intricate mechanical combinations in the absence of a 
sufficiently developed organ of Constructiveness. 

In Deville's collection there was a cast of a gentleman 
which afforded a signal example of this fact. His head 
was, to an uncommon extent, wanting in an adequate 
share of the organ of Constructiveness. But there was 
an ample endowment of the auxiliary organs above- 
named. Now, this man was singularly deficient in 
manual dexterity : and his conception, regarding me- 
chanical science and art, was very meagre. Not because 
he was wanting in capacity to form a just appreciation 
of the subsidiary attributes of mechanics, in their sepa- 
rate individual natures, but from his inability to form a 
clear conception of them in their combined and mechani- 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 175 

cally-adjusted condition. This gentleman felt convinced 
that if he were destitute of a roof to shelter him he could 
not, though adequate materials were at hand, construct 
even a hut of the rudest structure for his own comfort. 

By the side of that cast there stood, as a marked 
contrast, a cast of the head of the late Mr. Henry Earle, 
the eminent surgeon of Bartholomew's. In this cast the 
organs of Size, Weight, and Locality were well developed. 
But they could not be said to be so salient as they were 
in the other. To be sure the upper region of Earle's 
forehead was much more prominent, and this would 
naturally cause the organs in question to be relatively 
less marked. But, with regard to Constructiveness the 
region of the head, where that organ is located, is remark- 
ably convex and protuberant in the cast of Henry Earle, 
while in the other it is depressed and even concave at 
the seat of the same organ. 

Now, Mr. Earle was remarkable for the mechanical 
ingenuity which he displayed in the construction of easy 
chairs and beds of his own invention, with the humane 
view of comforting poor and sorely-afflicted patients, as 
well as of hastening the cure of their fractures and dis- 
locations. And here it may be added, as another striking 
example of the truth of Gall's discovery, that the organ 
of Benevolence was very large in his head. 

Those organs already named, which are the necessary 
helpers of that of the mechanical instinct, are always very 
prominent in renowned engineers ; and those distin- 
guished ones before alluded to, are signal instances of 
that fact. 

These indispensable coadjutors of Constructiveness are 
always large in great geometricians. In Descartes, Newton, 
and Herschell, for instance, they are strikingly character- 



176 CONSTKUCTIVENESS. 

istic, while in the historians, Gibbon and David Hume, they 
are not salient features. They are of moderate relative- 
development in the poets Burns, Clare, and Bloomfield, 
while they are predominant in the foreheads of Watt y 
Stephenson, and Brunell. In the cast from life of the 
late eminent constructor of mathematical instruments, 
the late Mr. Troughton, the same set of organs is remark- 
ably prominent ; and in his cast a receding forehead 
gives additional speciality to this form of the brow. That 
of constructiveness was also well-developed. The fore- 
head of Troughton bears a likeness to that of Airey, the 
astronomer royal. And Troughton, too, was an eminent 
mathematician. 

Both these casts were taken by Deville from life, and 
they formed conspicuous objects in his gallery, as being 
symbolic of rare mathematical talents. But while the 
mechanical instinct would be used by Troughton as the 
most efficient handmaid of his geometrical abilities, that 
of numerical calculation would be used by Airey as a sure 
and potent lever for holding in their proper position the 
grand objects of his astronomical observations, because in 
the cast of his head the organ of Number forms a con- 
spicuous feature. This cast of Troughton has more than 
ordinary interest attached to it from the fact of its having 
been the alleged cause of triumphant merriment to those 
who, without having had the slightest practical knowledge 
on the subject, disbelieved in the truthfulness of Gall's 
doctrine, as to the specific functions of the brain. 

In the " Diary of Thomas Moore "it is stated that in 
May, 1826, the poet dined with the sculptor, Chantrey, 
and they " talked of Phrenology, Spurzheim's mistake at 
Chantrey's in pronouncing Troughton from his scull to 
be a poet, and Sir Walter Scott a mathematician. Chan- 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 177 

trey first inclined to believe in the science, but, upon 
seeing, from his experience, that there were clever heads 
of all sizes and shapes, lost his faith in it." Clever, no 
doubt, but not in the same line. 

Surely, if Moore had felt inclined to give any attention 
to Phrenology, as a science of the mind, he could not, 
considering his superior acuteness and penetration, be 
for one moment biased against it by such a shallow 
objection as that made by Chantrey. Why, the objection 
of the observant, but in this case, at least, unphilosophic, 
sculptor offers sure testimony to the truth of this much 
abused doctrine. For the first of its fundamental laws 
inculcates this fact, namely, that different talents and 
dispositions are the constant result of diversified forms 
of the head. And as no two persons were ever yet en- 
dowed, in an equal measure, with the same talents and 
tempers, so there has never been seen two heads that 
were exactly alike. And this is the case even where 
many strong resemblances exist. But where the charac- 
ters are strikingly antagonistic, the diversity of form is 
conspicuous. Again, suppose a perfect uniformity of 
contour to exist in regard to the head, what would be 
the result of that upon the progress of society ? Why, 
it would so turn out that there would be a total lack of 
those special personal endowments which certain indivi- 
duals enjoy in an eminent degree, while others shine as 
luminaries in some opposite sphere of genius. And then 
would be lost to mankind the advantages of that division 
of labour to which peculiarly gifted men are driven by 
the prompting of their predominant moral and intellectual 
instincts. 

But though this eminent and fortunate sculptor was 
evidently wrong in respect to the nature of the influence 

p 



178 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

which led him to abandon his inclination to put faith in 
Phrenology, it cannot for a moment be surmised that so 
high and exemplary a character would misstate a fact 
of which he was himself cognizant, for the sake of casting 
a slur upon a noble science when struggling against 
opposition, which its truth alone has enabled it to 
outlive. 

Admitting, then, that Spurzheim did pronounce a 
judgment glaringly inconsistent with the facts of the 
case, it is Spurzheim alone who was at fault, and not the 
laws, whether general or particular, of that doctrine of the 
only true physiology of the brain, to the promulgation of 
which he devoted a singularly virtuous life ; and the 
philosophy of which his powerful analytical and metho- 
dising intellect contributed to build up and to symmetrize. 
No ; Phrenology was not found wanting in truthfulness on 
this occasion ; for if Chantrey's bust of Troughton bears a 
faithful likeness to the cast taken by the late Mr. Deville 
from the living head of that celebrated philosophical 
instrument maker and able mathematician, there could 
not be seen anywhere a truer example, or a more con- 
clusive one, of the perfect truthfulness of Phrenology. 

And as to Sir Walter Scott's head, there cannot be 
found any other so highly characteristic of the genius 
which has made him famous. For, unlike that of 
Troughton, its form announces it to be especially the 
fitting temple of the spirit of chivalry and romance. 
Moreover, the superior development of Eventuality im- 
parted to his mind a rare capacity for the distinct 
perception and accurate memory of events. And the 
singular largeness of his organ of Veneration would lead 
him to use his great powers upon the history of bygone 
days, and on the characters of the persons who flourished 



CONSTEUCTIVENESS. 179 

then, rather than upon the passing transactions of his 
own times. 

A man with a head shaped like Sir Walter Scott's 
would be inspired by an imagination so vivid and ro- 
mantic that to him the pursuit of the positive rules of 
mathematical science would seem dry and uninteresting. 
But, at the same time, it is a palpable fact that the 
development of the organ of Ideality, that essential 
elementary ingredient of a truly poetical mind, was not 
a salient feature in the head of that great genius. It is 
probably to this cause one should trace the depreciating 
tone in which Coleridge was used to speak of Sir Walter's 
poems. But if Spurzheim was led into error with respect 
to Scott's poetical genius by the unexuberant development 
of the organ of Ideality in the poet's head, it is very 
strange that he should, at the same moment, pronounce 
the geometrician Trough ton to be a poet, since that same 
organ was not by any means a prominent feature of his 
head. And this will appear clear to any one who compares 
the casts from nature of Troughton and Wordsworth — a 
poet over whose thoughts the sentiment of ideal beauty 
shone forth conspicuously even among the greatest of 
Nature's bards. 

It is but just to the phrenological reputation of 
Spurzheim to state that in his reply to some unfounded 
criticisms in the Quarterly Review, and elsewhere, he 
positively denies that he ever made such remarks on 
the head of Home Tooke, in Chantrey's studio, as had 
been reported. And as to the story about having in 
his enthusiastic admiration pronounced the head of the 
author of u The Diversions of Purley " to be that of 
a true born poet, it is highly probable that it is only 
~a new version of the one about Troughton and Scott. 

P 2 



180 CONSTEUCTIVENESS. 

And the silence of Spurzheim respecting the latter affords 
good ground for thinking that the story was an invention 
of one of Chantrey's subordinates, and not a thing 
witnessed by the great sculptor himself. 

In the most skilful and adroit operators in difficult 
surgical cases the organ of Constructiveness is always 
well marked. And some eminent names might here be 
adduced to prove that fact. Inferior instruments in the 
hands of such men could be rendered more effective than 
those of the most approved adaptability and excellence, 
even in the hands of persons possessing an accurate 
knowledge of the anatomy of the parts to be operated on, 
but who are wanting in Constructiveness. 

An interesting example of this kind of dexterity oc- 
curred in Dublin about forty years ago, in the person of the 
Surgeon- General of Ireland, the late Sir Philip Crampton. 

One day, as that eminent surgeon and chivalrous-looking 
gentleman was going the rounds of his patients, mounted 
on his fine black horse, through Brittain Street, his atten- 
tion was attracted by an anxious-looking crowd at the 
door of an apothecary's shop, which stood at the corner 
of Gardiner Street. In his usual agile fashion he instantly 
dismounted and rushed into the shop, where he saw a 
baby, the son of a Koscommon gentleman, in a terrified 
nurse's arms, on the point of being choked by something 
it had been eating. Crampton called for the proper 
instrument, but there was not one in the house. And 
when the shopman was about sending for one Sir Philip 
hastily exclaimed — " Oh, that will never do. The child 
will be suffocated if he be not relieved instantly." And, 
as he spoke, he wrapped his pocket-handkerchief slightly 
round the end of the slender ratan, which he was using 
in lieu of a whip, thrust it with gentle adroitness down 



CONSTEUCTIVENESS. 181 

the throat of the child, withdrew it, and instantly the 
livid cheeks of the little sufferer assumed their natural 
complexion. 

It is not manual dexterity that is the most marked 
characteristic of this affair. Bapid constructive adapta- 
tion of an instrument, seemingly incongruous, at a 
perilous juncture, and presence of mind, are its leading 
features. 

A fact here occurs to me that may not be deemed quite 
irrelevant in a book which treats of the instincts and 
cerebral organs of animals, though it has no bearing upon 
the faculty now under discussion. It is this — Sir Philip 
Crampton was in the constant habit of leaving this 
favourite black horse of his alone in the street, while he 
himself was engaged with his patient. On such occasions 
poor boys, anxious to earn a trifle, would officiously strive 
to catch hold of the reins; but the sagacious animal, 
with more the expression of arclmess than viciousness 
about him, would " turn tail " upon them, not with the 
view of running away himself, but of causing them to 
keep at a salutary distance. 

The instinctive prompting of this primitive faculty in 
persons endowed with a fine development of this region of 
the brain is often strikingly shown, even though their 
education and position in life precluded them from 
mechanical pursuits. No sooner do they take a house, for 
instance, than they have part of it pulled down in order 
to rebuild it in their own fashion. Ladies who evince 
taste and dexterity in trimming their bonnets and cutting 
out their dresses, and who take a pleasure in being thus 
occupied, are remarkable for the protuberance of the same 
part of the head, while the reverse is the case with those 
who are destitute of such talent. 



182 CONSTKUCTIVENESS. 

The organ of Constructiveness is very large in the scull 
of Benvenuto Altoviti, the founder of St. Luke's Academy 
at Rome, and the friend of Raphael. This scull, though a 
notable illustration of what has been just stated, is named 
here, not as an example only, but because it was for a 
long time supposed to be the scull of Raphael himself. 
And, as such, was preserved with great care in that 
academy, and also because it serves to illustrate the truth 
of Gall's doctrine in regard to the organs that are the 
indispensable auxiliaries of a great painter. 

Some thirty years ago, however, that supposition was 
proved to be a mistake, for on opening the tomb of 
Raphael, which lay under the altar of the Pantheon, there - 
was found a skeleton, with the scull imbedded, in a slight 
degree, in a tenacious soil. To this receptacle of the 
most divine of painters the authorities were directed by 
a recently discovered manuscript of Raphael's, in which 
he expresses a wish to be buried under the altar of the 
Pantheon Chapel. 

The length of the skeleton corresponded with the 
recorded stature of Raphael, and the scull, of which two 
casts only were allowed to be taken, was pronounced by 
Mr. Combe to be perfectly in accordance with his genius 
and dispositions, after having carefully examined one of 
the casts, by favour of the owner of that interesting relic. • 

This, the real scull of the prince of painters is not so 
large as the one so long thought to be his, and the region 
of the animal propensities are not at all so strongly de- 
veloped. It is indicative of great moral refinement and 
warm sensibilities. 

I am not sure that Mr. Combe was able to form an 
estimate of the size of the organ of Form in this scull. 
But if he has, the fact has escaped my memory. It is^,, 



CONSTKUCTIVENESS. 183 

however, certain that all the portraits of Raphael, painted 
by himself, display a development of the organ of Form, 
which is not surpassed in prominence by that which is to 
be met in the picture or bust of any other artist, not 
excepting even Michael Angelo, in whose portrait, painted 
by himself, and engraved by Longhi, the organ of Form 
is exceedingly large. 

Now, it is worthy of note that the scull preserved in 
the academy of St. Luke is not remarkable, like those 
portraits, for the saliency of that organ, though it is well 
marked. Neither is there a paramount development of 
the organs already named which are indispensable agents 
in the completion of practical artistic genius. But the 
organ of Constructiveness was very protuberant, and so 
was that of Ideality. By means of the latter the mind 
of its possessor was doubtless deeply imbued with a keen 
sense of the beautiful in nature and in art. 

And this disposition manifested itself in his friend- 
ship for Raphael, his generous patronage of artists, and 
in building a temple for their special edification and 
instruction. It is clear that in choosing this mode of 
manifesting his love of the fine arts, and his generous 
care for their advancement, he was influenced by the 
promptings of a very large organ of Constructiveness, 
with superior Ideality, and an adequate endowment of 
Form, Size, and Colour. 

It would be interesting and instructive in a phrenological 
point of view, to institute a comparison between those 
two sculls. But this is now not possible in this country. 
Still there is ample facility afforded for testing the correct- 
ness of what has been just said respecting the scull 
which is now proved to be that of Raphael's friend, 
Altoviti. 



]84 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

There is to be seen, for instance, in the shop of any 
eminent print-seller, the portrait of a very handsome man, 
beautifully engraved by Raphael Morghen, and also by 
Strange, after a picture by Raphael, and which was long 
thought to be one of the painter himself, but which has 
since been pronounced to be the portrait of the founder 
of St. Luke's Academy, the said Benvenuto Altoviti. 

The fine lineaments of the forehead in this print closely 
resemble those of the scull in St. Luke's Academy, and 
the appearance of the organ of Form accords with what 
has been said above in regard to its degree of development 
in the scull. 

Now, if this print by Morghen be compared with that 
of Raphael by Forster, of Paris, after the beautiful head 
of the painter himself in his grand picture called the 
School of Athens, it will be easy to see that the organ of 
Form is much larger in the great artist than in his accom- 
plished friend, who was, nevertheless, endowed with such 
a development of the organ and also of that of Colour as 
rendered him capable of loving and of justly appreciating 
the beauties of painting, sculpture, and architecture. 

It is indeed quite certain that the organs which are 
auxiliary to Constructiveness, and which have their seats 
in the lower portion of the forehead, are found to be pro- 
tuberant in all great painters, sculptors, and architects. 
What a striking contrast there is in respect to the form 
of the brow between Michael Angelo and that ornament 
of literature, Cardinal Pietro Bembo, who, to use the 
words of Roscoe, " emulated Cicero and Virgil with equal 
success, and recalled in his writings the elegance and 
purity of Petrarch and Boccaccio." But Bembo had no 
internal promptings to urge him to tread in the same paths 
that were illumined by the genius of Michael Angelo 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 185 

because lie was not endowed with an adequate develop- 
ment of those organs. This great disparity of size, as 
regards the organs just alluded to, is strikingly marked 
in the fine and rare engravings of their portraits in profile 
by their distinguished contemporary, Julio Bonasone. 

Constructiveness and its essential auxiliaries are finely 
developed in a plaster mask of that eminent painter 
Maclise. And I have heard that rare scholar and humorous 
poet, the Reverend Francis Mahony, better known as 
Father Prout, say that Maclise painted with great alacrity. 
The same set of organs are very large in the casts from 
nature of Canova, Gibson, and Bailey, of Lawrence and of 
Chantrey ; and in the posthumous plaster mask of the 
famous sculptor Rubilliac those organs are exceedingly 
large. Now, the works of this sculptor render him re- 
markable even amongst the greatest of artists for the 
beauty of his manipulation. His noble bust of the cele- 
brated Lord Chesterfield is a fine example of the exquisite- 
ness of his manual dexterity. 

In the posthumous mask of the famous line engraver 
Bartolozzi, the organ of Constructiveness, with Form and 
the rest, is very salient ; whilst, on the contrary, the same 
organ is singularly flat in the mask taken after death of 
Doctor Samuel Johnson, who seemed to be in a marked 
degree incapable of manifesting even ordinary adroitness 
in the use of his hands. 

That it is to the anterior lobe of the brain the mechanical 
instinct is to be traced, and not to the influence of the 
human hand, as some one has preposterously imagined, 
has been shewn in the case of Thomas McDermott, who 
was born without hands or feet — a case that has been 
particularly noticed in my effort to bring to light the true 
and ultimate source," whence springs what psychologists 



186 CONSTRUCTITENESS. 

call Volition — that living force which impels and guides 
the movements of the muscles of voluntary motion. 

But the foreheads of great engineers, architects, and 
sculptors, often differ much in form as regards their 
general contour. That of the elder Brunell differs much 
from that of George Stevenson, judging by their casts 
taken from nature. The fine busts of Watt and Bennie, 
by Chantrey, display in the forehead discrepancies of form. 
And from these it should be inferred that the former 
would be more disposed than the latter to search for 
knowledge of various kinds through the paths of literature. 
And if his genius for mechanics had not been predomi- 
nant, there are to be noticed in Watt's forehead indications 
of superior ability for the pursuit of the less exact 
sciences, whether moral or physical. There are cerebral 
signs, no doubt, that Bennie also was capable of shining 
in the same line, but the symbols of intellectual versatility 
were more strikingly manifested in Watt. 

No two foreheads can be more unlike than those of the 
eminent engineers, Mr. Hawkshaw and Sir Charles Fox. 

But notwithstanding these diversities of general con- 
formation it will always be found that there is an identity 
of development at the lower part of the forehead, and of 
the temple, commencing below, nearly an inch above the 
external angle of the eye, in all those who have displayed 
a genius for mechanics, and in those who have rendered 
themselves remarkable for manual dexterity. It is at this 
last-named point that the organ of Constructiveness lies. 

But, as has been already stated, the mechanical faculty 
is not exclusively possessed by mankind, for many of the 
lower animals are capable of displaying much mechanical 
ingenuity. By philosophers this talent is denominated. 
instinct in them, as if it were not merely an instinctive 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 187 

attribute of the human mind as well. Is not this fact 
proved by the occasional exhibition of genius for mechanics 
in children, long before there has appeared any indication 
of the dawn of the purely reasoning faculties ? 

But though this single fundamental instinct is identical 
in man and animals, it is stationary in the latter, while 
in the former it is progressive in its effects. For his 
superior perceptive and reflective faculties enable man 
to invent new modes for the display of his mechanical 
instinct, which expand its sphere of action and augment 
its capabilities. The multiplicity of man's wants renders 
this capacity for mechanical improvement a necessary 
attribute of his nature, while the wants of animals are 
confined within bounds that are fixed and unchangeable, 
and the faculties, necessary to make provision for these 
wants, are at once made perfect by providential wisdom. 
There does not seem, therefore, any necessity for im- 
provement in their mechanical instincts. Neither is there 
any advance in excellence discernible in the constructive 
faculty of animals. The bee constructs her cell now as 
she did in the days of Noah, and the beaver his hut and 
dam. But though animals possessing the mechanical 
instinct are totally incapable of varying its useful appli- 
cation in any way, still it is said that the nests of young 
birds are less compact and finished than those of old ones. 
This difference must arise from the repeated exercise of 
the constructive faculty : for, by an immutable law, ex- 
ercise, up to a certain limit, enhances the power of a 
faculty, through the strengthening of its organ. Still, 
the nest is always built in the same manner. It is, 
however, recorded that animals have the power of adapt- 
ing their mechanical faculties to meet unexpected emer- 
gencies. Gall, in his great work, states that a swallow 



188 CONSTEUCTIVENESS. 

was in the habit of returning in due season, to a house 
in which it had built its nest. This nest was destroyed, 
in order to pass a bell wire across the hole. Nevertheless, 
the swallow, on its return, rebuilt the nest, leaving room, 
however, for the wire to play freely through it. But yet 
it admits of a doubt as to this fact being evidence of 
prevision, since it is almost certain that the wire was 
often in motion during the building of the nest, and thus 
would adhesion be prevented. Can this fact, then, be 
attributed to provident intention on the part of the bird ? 
Such does not seem to be the case. Neither is the fact 
of a bird stopping up a hole in his nest, caused by 
accident, any proof of forethought. He finds himself in 
a, situation which is not in accordance with what his 
instincts require, and what he is accustomed to, and he is, 
necessarily, prompted by his instinct to bring things back 
to the condition that is alone suitable to it. 

In the conduct of the spider there is afforded evidence 
of the correctness of the inference just drawn, with respect 
to the supposed prevision of birds. For instance, a spider 
will start from his hiding-place and grasp any object that 
may happen to strike against his widespread web. If it 
be any living thing, he will at once begin to envelope it 
with a white tenacious substance, which he then secretes 
in great profusion ; and having completely enfolded it, he 
leaves it in store for his future wants. But let the object 
be a small pellet of paper, thrown purposely on the 
curious network, and different will be his action. As 
usual he rushes furiously upon the object ; but finding it 
not suited to his wants, he works with the utmost vigour 
until the pellet is extricated and falls to the ground. But 
he makes no attempt to envelope it. Such instinctive 
discernment as this is the result of appetite, unusually 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 189 

and disagreeably affected ; so far as to produce a sense 
of instinctive repulsiveness ; and is not the result of 
provident reflection ; for this spider did not then try- 
to repair the breach thus made in the ingenious outworks 
of his secret dwelling, by which act his prey might be 
rendered more secure. 

Why is it, then, that this insect was thus neglectful 
as to the repairing of his web, while the bird cannot rest 
until she closes the hole that has been accidentally made 
in her nest ? It is because the instinctive sensations of 
the spider are in no way affected by such a contingency ; 
since it is remote from her habitual resting-place. But 
with the bird it is different ; for here the contiguousness 
of the mischief renders the creature keenly sensible that all 
around her is in an unnatural state, and divested of the 
completeness which alone can be satisfactory to her limited, 
but yet perfect instincts. 

Indeed the constant uniformity of their mode of acting 
in emergencies shows that, even in the most sagacious 
species of the lower animals, there is an absence of those 
faculties which impart the power to devise new methods 
of adapting means to an end, so as to overcome difficulties, 
owing to their want of that reflective faculty which 
enables mankind to trace the chain of reciprocal depend- 
ence that must exist between cause and effect. 

An interesting example of this truth was given to me 
many years ago by a most benevolent gentleman — a 
colonel in the British army. This officer, on his leaving 
Demerara, where he had been stationed for some time, 
brought home with him one of that beautiful species of 
the monkey tribe, called the " Marmosette," which became 
a great pet of his, and was free to wander about the 
sitting-room of the colonel as it pleased. This he did 



190 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 

for a considerable time without meeting with any ac- 
cident. One day, however, on returning home, his 
kind-hearted owner had the mortification to find the 
little creature in a state of agonising terror, with his 
hand immersed in a bottle of ink, out of which he was 
vainly striving to pull it. And as the master himself 
failed to draw it out, he broke the bottle, and then found 
that the Marmosette's fist was firmly clenched, and was 
thus rendered too big to pass through the neck of the 
bottle. It thus appears that this animal, being devoid 
of the reflective faculty, was not capable of seeing that 
by straightening the fingers he could have drawn out 
his hand from the bottle of ink with as much ease as 
he had put it into it. He was entirely wanting in the 
faculty of Causation, an attribute which mankind alone 
of all created beings is found to possess, and therefore 
could not see the means of fitness and adaptation, in 
regard to things that lay outside the sphere of its own 
perfect but limited instincts. 

It is quite clear that there is a mental instinctive 
faculty, called Constructiveness, which is one sui generis, 
and is not a mode of action of any other faculty or 
combination of faculties, though it requires the co-opera- 
tion of many. And that, moreover, its own inherent 
strength is at once, and without previous instruction, 
sufficient for the purpose of enabling animals to build 
suitable habitations for the security of themselves and 
their young ones. 

It is scarcely to be hoped for that we shall ever be 
capable of isolating each particular organ in the small 
sculls of animals. Nevertheless it is a well-proved fact 
that the seats of several distinct organs, characteristic of 
their dispositions, can be palpably demonstrated, both 



CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 191 

negatively and positively. For instance, the vast pro- 
tuberance of Secretiveness and Destructiveness in the 
tiger and all the feline tribe, and their flatness and even 
depression in the sheep and all other herbivorous animals. 
The largeness of the organ of Caution in the sheep- and 
its smallness in the fearless bull-dog. The great saliency 
of the organ of Tune in singing birds and its smallness 
in those that do not sing. The marked prominence of 
that portion of the scull which is analogous in its locality 
to the organ of Benevolence in mankind, in the sheep and 
all animals of a gentle nature, and its palpable smallness 
in those that are noted for theirinherent ferocity, are 
demonstrable facts that defy contradiction. Yet this is 
the region of the head which some opponents have mis- 
taken for Veneration. The amount of sagacity and 
intelligence possessed by different animals can be unerr- 
ingly shewn to depend upon the broadness and elevation 
of the scull just behind the eyes. In the scull of the 
beaver this anterior part of the head is very broad, and 
even projects at the point which corresponds by its posi- 
tion, exactly with the organ of Constructiveness in the 
human head. 

In birds, too, however much they may differ in regard 
to the relative development of the organ of Tune, the 
portion of scull that lies behind that organ is full and 
prominent. And it is there, according to analogy, one 
would expect to find the organ of the Mechanical 
Instinct. 

In the bee and the spider the diminutiveness of the 
brain precludes us from even an attempt to divide it into 
distinct organs at all ; much less to point out the locality 
of the special organ of Constructiveness. But such a 
discovery, though desirable, is by no means essential to 



192 CONSTKUCTIVENESS. 

our purpose, since it is found to be an invariable fact that 
great mechanical genius has never yet been manifested 
by any human being without largeness of that part of the 
head, which has been denominated the organ of Con- 
structiveness, or the Mechanical Instinct; and, on the 
contrary, that a scanty development of it is always 
accompanied by marked inaptitude for the display of 
manual dexterity or any talent for mechanics. And this 
is a fact solemnly attested and proved by men of high 
scientific attainments, perspicacious sagacity, observant 
industry, and scrupulous uprightness of purpose. 

The organ of Constructiveness lies in front of Acquisi- 
tiveness, behind Tune, above Number, and under Ideality,, 
and it is in contact with all of them. 



SELF-ESTEEM 



A high opinion of oneself, pride, arrogance, and disdain, 
are modifications of this faculty, which characterise an 
individual in proportion to the absolute, and more so to 
the relative paramount size of the part of the brain 
which lies in the upper and back portion of the head, 
above the organ of Inhabitiveness, and behind that of 
Firmness. 

There is no sentiment which more strikingly manifests 
itself than this, and often in a very disagreeable manner. 
That it is an elementary feeling is beyond all doubt. It 
bears no just proportion to the superior merits of any 
individual, for the most noble-minded are often found 
to be scarcely affected by it, while men of mean endow- 
ments will sometimes draw down ridicule upon themselves 
by setting a high value upon their own slender acquire- 
ments and meagre productions. Neither is it the result 
of superior station in life. Sometimes it is far more 
apparent in the beggar than in the prince, in the heartless 
spendthrift than in the man whose sense of independence 
and industry enable him to amass property, from which 
he can spare a part to comfort the afflicted and promote 
happiness. Some children of the same family are very 
proud, and will not be induced to make acquaintance 
with persons in a lower sphere than themselves, while 
their brothers and sisters evince no such repugnance. 

Q 



194 SELF-ESTEEM. 

The daring arrogance and unhallowed thirst of power of 
King Eichard the Third and the unassuming pliancy 
of Henry the Sixth were signal indications of the 
almost utter absence of Self-esteem in Henry, and of 
its exuberant predominance in the character of Richard. 
Compare the overbearing assumption of Luther with the 
gentle forbearance of Melancthon ; the coarse, self-reliant 
turbulence of John Knox with the saint-like submissive- 
ness of Fenelon, and then can there be a doubt as to the 
fact that Self-esteem is a fundamental power of the mind. 

It is a sentiment which the lower animals do not seem 
to possess ; although the cock, race-horse, and peacock 
are said to be proud. But Grail, in looking for the organ 
of Pride in these animals, did not find any remarkable 
development of the cerebral parts, corresponding to the 
organ of Pride in man. 

This sentiment, when it is strong, and well chastened 
by the salutary restraints of the moral and religious 
sentiments, is a most valuable ingredient of character. 
It then imparts a sense of personal dignity, and is the 
direct opponent of pusillanimity. It inspires its possessor 
with confidence in the propriety of his own plans, opinions, 
and resolutions. When the organ is relatively salient, it 
causes one to take great pride in whatever belongs to 
him. Such a man sets a higher value upon his acquire- 
ments and possessions than others would be disposed to 
allow. Hence he will shew much anxiety for their 
security. Thus does it become a powerful incentive to 
the energetic action of the faculties, which alone are 
capable of defending the things we most highly prize; 
It rouses courage to ward off danger from the objects 
of our dearest social attachments, and enhances the zest 
for the acquisition and safe maintenance of property. It 



SELF-ESTEEM. 195 

as essentially selfish, however, and, when in excess, gives 
rise to arrogance and disdainfulness of disposition, and 
renders man impracticable, self-willed, and domineering. 

Though the sentiments of Benevolence and Respectful- 
ness are directly opposed to self-love, in regard to their 
intrinsic qualities, yet they are indebted to it sometimes 
for much of their activity. But for an ample endoAvment 
•of this faculty St. Paul could not have fulfilled his holy 
mission with so much impressiveness, or conducted it 
with so much self-reliance in the midst of crosses and 
dangers. It was the prevalence of this sentiment which 
caused Julius Caesar, on his way to Spain, to say to one 
of his officers, who contrasted the wretched appearance 
of a village hard by with the magnificence of Rome, " I 
would rather be the first man in that village than the 
second in Rome." Though Washington was certainly 
endowed with a competent share of Self-esteem he did 
not permit it to govern his actions, except when he was 
seeking to establish the independence of his country. 
He was always unalterably self-reliant and fixed in his 
resolutions, because his clear intellect and noble disposi- 
tions showed him the best mode of acting, and not be- 
cause he was contemptuously self-willed and over-bearing. 
In this case it added dignity to the character of that 
great man. 

But though this primitive faculty is, in persons 
liappily constituted, a powerful incentive to noble actions, 
it is, also, found to add intensity to the cravings of some 
of the lowest and most degrading of our propensities. A 
thief, for instance, with very active Self-esteem will be 
unwilling to share the proceeds of his robberies with an 
accomplice ; as was exemplified in Puckle, whose case is 
elsewhere noticed. Sometimes inordinate Self-esteem is 

Q 2 



196 SELF-ESTEEM. 

met with in persons in the lowest rank of life. And then ? 
when it is accompanied by a marked deficiency of the 
moral sense, and no disposition to steal, it prompts ifc& 
possessor to signalise his name by some wonderful achieve- 
ment. It was the prompting of predominant Self-esteem 
which rendered Fieschi envious of everything higher or 
happier than himself, and caused him to construct his- 
infernal machine for the murder of King Louis Philippe. 
It was the morbid prevalence of Self-esteem which urged 
Oxford to shoot at his youthful, pure-minded, and liberty- 
loving queen. In him the faculty was biased by a gloomy 
disposition, which in the absence of moral elevation, was 
misdirected by the vague imaginings of a confused intel- 
lect. And these are characteristics that are quite in 
accordance with the shape of his head. 

In both these men the organ of Self-esteem is extremely 
large. In Oxford its activity was probably somewhat 
morbid, for, some time after this culprit's confinement 
in Bethlehem Hospital, Mr. Thomas, the house surgeon, told 
me that he could not discover any marks of insanity 
about him, unless it proceeded from pride ; for it was 
obvious he looked down upon every one about him. The 
saliency of the same part is very conspicuous in Cooper, 
the young highwayman of Hornsey, who shot a man that 
attempted to capture him, and, when closely pressed by 
his pursuers, took poison, but without the desired effect. 
It is large in the daring, self-reliant murderer, Rush. 
On the contrary, it is comparatively deficient in those 
criminals whose self-reliance had completely deserted them 
upon their being apprehended. In Corder, for instance, 
who murdered Maria Martin at the Red Barn. 

The supreme influence of Self-esteem is often mani- 
fested in insanity. There was in Deville's collection of 



SELF-ESTEEM. 197 

casts of insane persons the head of a man, who thought 
he was the divinely inspired representative of Christ 
upon earth, and he would become greatly excited by any 
doubt being expressed as to the reality of his divine 
nature. In addition to large organs of the religious 
sentiments, he had immense Self-esteem and love of 
approbation. Another was a French woman, who called 
herself the betrothed of Christ. In her cast, also, the 
organ of Self-esteem is very large, as well as those of 
the religious sentiments. In a third, this organ is very 
prominent. Her hallucination consisted in the idea that 
she was betrothed to the Emperor Napoleon the First. 

When the late Dr. Ewins was visiting physician to 
the lunatic asylum at Peckham, held by Mr. Armstrong, 
he invited me to accompany him and the late Mr. Behnes 
Burlowe, the sculptor, in order to see how far peculiar 
kinds of insanity could be predicated from the form of 
the head. Amongst a large number of very marked 
cases, in confirmation of the truth of Phrenology, there 
were three remarkable instances of morbid pride in 
females. On approaching the first of these, I said to the 
doctor, " That woman is insane through vanity and pride. 
It is likely she thinks herself a queen, but from her large 
organ of Benevolence she will be somewhat bland and 
considerate, though not deferential in her manner, her 
organ of Veneration being small." This poor creature 
imagined she was Queen Elizabeth. She asked Dr. 
Ewins, in an unpretending tone and manner, why he had 
not brought the robes she had ordered. The next was 
a more decided case of pure Self-esteem. I pointed out a 
tall woman, in whose head this organ was even larger 
than in the first; but seeing that she had not so much 
love of praise and less benevolence, I said I had no hope 



198 SELF-ESTEEM. 

of being treated with much condescension by this patient,, 
who, no doubt, supposed that she was some very high 
personage. She was the Queen of Portugal. When we 
approached her she drew her head upwards and back- 
wards, and, by the haughty expression of her face, 
seemed to hold us in the utmost contempt. Nor did she 
deign to speak a word to any one. The next was a large, 
fine-looking woman of sixty. In her head, Self-esteem 
was not very marked, but Love of Approbation was very 
large, and so was Veneration, Benevolence, and Con- 
scientiousness. I said the doctor should be respectful to 
her, but that he might rely upon being treated with 
respect in return, and accordingly, on his asking how her 
highness was, she said, " Very well, I thank your 
excellency." The poor lunatic, whose case is noticed in 
the article on Benevolence, as having so humble an opinion 
of his own merits, possessed a very small organ of Self- 
esteem. 

It is of great importance to acquire an early know- 
ledge of the absolute and relative size of the organ of 
Self-love; for its predominance in the heads of children 
tends to render them unmanageable, unless the rest of" 
the brain be happily constituted. A child, for instance,, 
with weak attachment and little care for the opinion of 
others, who possesses much firmness and courage, with 
large Self-esteem (especially if Benevolence and the sense 
of Eespeetfulness be only moderately bestowed upon it), 
will give great trouble and anxiety to its parents and. 
guardians. Such children are instinctively self-willed 
and unruly. And, if to this combination of attributes 
is added a large development of the organ of Secretive- 
ness, they will have to contend against dissimulation- 
And, as the last quality greatly enhances the danger,, 



SELF-ESTEEM. 199 

surely the system of cerebral physiology, which points 
out an unerring mode of discovering the presence of that 
quality in the mental constitution of the child, before 
it has displayed itself in conduct, must be looked upon 
as a boon of the highest value to mankind. 

To curb, in proper time, the undue influence of Self- 
esteem, nothing affords a greater prospect of success than 
the strengthening of attachment by judiciously conciliating 
it ; for the sense of Attachment, when strong, naturally 
becomes a hopeful channel through which the moral 
feelings may take their benignant course. The Love of 
Approbation is another essential instrument, when properly 
used, for enabling an instructor to urge the enhancement 
of the energies of the moral and intellectual powers with 
the view of controlling inordinate self-love. 

When the lowest propensities are predominant, the 
presence of a large organ of Self-esteem and little sense 
of Attachment greatly augments the evil. Such was the 
case with Lacinaire, Fieschi, Oxford, and the Frenchman, 
Martine, who killed his generous and indulgent mother 
to obtain money which he fancied she had concealed ; and 
in Dautun, who killed his own brother to obtain his 
property ; and in the French chevalier who poisoned three 
of his wives for a like purpose. And it is very salient in 
Berthelemy who was hanged for shooting Mr. Moore. 
There cannot be a doubt that Self-esteem is a primitive 
attribute of the human mind, which is separate in its 
nature from any other faculty. And, such being the case, 
it follows necessarily that there must be a special portion 
of the brain for its manifestation. This part of the brain 
was clearly pointed out by the indefatigable and accurate 
Dr. Gall. He discovered it in the head of a beggar, who 
acknowledged to him that he had lost a fortune left to 



200 SELF-ESTEEM. 

him by his father, who was a merchant, because he felt 
too proud to work, and that he had rather beg than work 
for his livelihood. He had, however, a small head and 
forehead. Hence it may be inferred that his proud dislike 
to work was fostered by intellectual indolence. 

In the centre of the upper and back part of this poorly- 
developed head, Gall found a large rounded protuberance. 
Having taken a cast of the head he was enabled to compare 
it with the heads of persons whom he knew to be very 
proud, and, to his surprise, he found the same kind of 
prominence in all of them ; although the greatest difference 
as to form existed in every other part of their heads. 

Subsequent investigations have afforded incontrovertible 
evidence of the correctness of the position assigned to 
the organ of Self-esteem by Grail. 

To the cases already adduced may be added the follow- 
ing, which are particularly interesting and instructive. 

In the cast of the author of " Political Justice " and 
Caleb Williams the organ of Self-esteem is remarkably 
prominent, with large Benevolence and small Veneration. 
In Sir Walter Scott it is very moderate, with large Bene- 
volence and very large Veneration. And do we not find 
the works of Godwin deeply impressed with the marks 
of a strong sense of Self-esteem, mellowed by superior 
Benevolence? (see Plate 1, diagrams 1 & 2.) It was this 
that inspired him with confidence in the wisdom of his 
own political views, and added vigour to his eloquent 
advocacy of them. Godwin was possessed by a strong 
spirit of innovation, Scott longed for the continuance of 
ancient institutions, and was, of all great men, the least 
self-opinionated. 

In the cast of Rammohun Roy, who relinquished 
the Brahminical faith, Self-esteem is large, and, like 



SELF-ESTEEM. 201 

Godwin, his Benevolence is very large and his organ of 
Veneration small. In the cast of Cobbett, Self-esteem is 
-a marked feature, combined with large Combativeness. 
In the cast of the head of Richard Carlile, the bookseller 
of Fleet Street, Self-esteem is exceedingly large, and, 
together with excessive firmness and little respectfulness, 
it affords a clear and simple criterion whereby his charac- 
ter and conduct can be estimated. So high an opinion 
had this man of himself that he gave an account of his 
own head in a magazine of his called " The Lion," and 
finished it by saying he considered it came as near to 
perfection as possible. And so self-willed and obstinate 
was he that he endured imprisonment, at one time, for six 
years and a-half, and again, for nearly four years, sooner 
than retract a word of the abusive language which he 
was in the constant habit of contemptuously uttering, 
and fearlessly publishing, against objects and institutions 
which all but a few, like himself, deemed sacred. The 
government at last got tired of keeping him in prison, 
and without any concesssion on his part released him. 
His head offers a striking contrast to that of Lord 
Chancellor Eldon, and to that of Sir Walter Scott (see 
Plates 1 & 3). 

Amongst the interesting remains of the sculptures of 
Greece and Rome are to be found striking instances of 
the fact, that a large development of the upper back part 
of the head is always a symbol of love of distinction, or 
selfish pride, and love of power — modified according to 
the prevalence of the organ of Self-esteem, or that of Love 
of Approbation. The former organ is very prominent in 
Cato, the censor, in Antisthenes, the founder of the 
Cynic philosophy, and in Zeno, the stoic. It is of very 
moderate size in the liberal, unselfish, dramatic poet, 



202 SELF-ESTEEM. 

Menander, and in the gentle, unassuming poet, Theocritus. 
In the busts of Caesar, Pompey, and Cicero, this region 
of the head affords a striking contrast to the same part in 
Horace. And has not this delightful poet left an im- 
perishable memorial of the little value he was disposed 
to set upon the possession of power and the privilege of 
using authority over others, in the ode beginning with 
the words — " Hoc erat in votis." 

The seat and external appearance of the organ of Self- 
esteem are thoroughly established facts. 



LOVE OE APPROBATION-VANITY, 
LOYE OE GLOEY, AMBITION. 



Exclusive of the wholesome influence exercised by the 
moral and religious sentiments in regulating the impulses 
of Self-esteem, there exists a primitive faculty which 
tends greatly to soften the asperities of temper arising 
from uncontrolled submission to the promptings of that 
affection. It is called Love of Approbation. These two 
qualities exert a reciprocal beneficial influence upon one 
another. The sense of personal dignity, for instance, 
would necessarily prevent that undue servility in seeking 
to obtain applause, which would be the result of inordinate 
love of distinction, unaccompanied by an adequate share 
of the other faculty. 

Love of Approbation is certainly one of the most power- 
ful promoters of the activity of the other mental faculties, 
and, when acting in harmony with high moral sentiments, 
it enhances, in an eminent degree, the benignant grace 
and unassuming elegance of manners so characteristic 
of high moral endowments. The pleasure we feel on 
finding that others applaud our conduct renders us some- 
what dependent upon each other, and hence this faculty 
becomes an active promoter of mutual forbearance and 
goodwill, qualities that are so necessary to the happiness 
of society. It gives rise to that salutary sense of shame 



204 LOVE OF APPROBATION. 

which so powerfully tends to awaken a sense of justice 
in those whose rectitude of principle may not be of a 
high cast, and thus becomes an incentive to honesty. It 
urges the manufacturer to fabricate goods of the most 
exquisite workmanship in order to outstrip his competitors 
in the race of improvement. The farmer is dissatisfied 
unless he can raise from the soil, which he cultivates, 
better grain than others, similarly circumstanced, are 
enabled to produce. What an endless variety of beau- 
teous flowers and delicious fruits do we not, every season, 
behold adorning the gardens of skilful horticulturists 
ambitious of distinction. And, urged on by emulation, 
what vast improvement is affected by graziers in the form 
and quality of cattle and of sheep. To gratify his thirst 
for glory the warrior forsakes the dear objects of his love 
to brave the perils of land and sea, and the voice of fame 
is music to the soul of the orator and the poet. Being 
the source of rivalry, it prompts the mechanical genius to 
exert his talents in the invention of something which his 
predecessors were unable to accomplish, and thus it has 
become a powerful promoter of the happiness and good 
fellowship of nations. 

Like every other primitive faculty, this one is possessed 
in different proportions by different individuals. In the 
female head the organ of Love of Approbation is relatively 
larger than it is in the male head. And it is true that 
it exercises much greater influence over the actions of 
women than of men. In the whole conduct of young 
girls it shows its predominance. Boys are usually far 
less affected by either praise or blame. To its prevalence 
in the female character are owing misfortunes to which 
some of the tenderest and most confiding natures have been 
subjected ; for, ardent love of praise requires some power- 



LOVE OF APPROBATION. 205 

ful moral and intellectual auxiliaries to enable it to resist 
the assaults of flattery. Under proper management this 
affection may be used as a most efficient incentive in 
exciting the energies of the moral and intellectual powers 
in the early periods of life. It is, therefore, of importance 
to teachers to ascertain at once the relative strength of 
this affection in the mental constitution of every child 
submitted to their care. 

Children in whom this feeling is very active are ex- 
tremely sensitive, and should they be, at the same time, 
somewhat timid, great care should be taken not to wound 
their self-respect by bringing them to open shame, or 
treat them with undue harshness. In such cases self- 
reliance shoidd be cultivated, and love of praise judiciously 
appealed to. Some, on the contrary, care very little for 
what others may think of them, provided they can but 
gain their ends. Such young persons are managed with 
difficulty, especially if they be endowed with firmness 
and courage, and the ungrateful task is much enhanced 
by a deficiency of attachment in the pupil. In the former 
case a prominence is certain to be found at the superior 
posterior part of the head, on each side of Self-esteem. 
In the latter, the absence of any marked projection in 
the same part cannot fail to be observed. 

Although the love of applause is a powerful incentive 
to the carrying out of noble aspirations in persons who 
are endowed with happily-constituted minds, it is, when 
abused, the fertile source of some of the most deplorable 
evils with which society has been afflicted. It is then 
called vanity, ambition, or inordinate love of distinc- 
tion. 

The individual who happens to be the victim of this 
passion is a stranger to a true sense of mutual liberty. 



206 LOVE OF APPROBATION. 

He cannot countenance a rival. Should another outstrip 
him in the pursuit of fame his soul becomes the seat of 
envy, that most uncharitable of vices. He pines for 
that which he has not the capacity to accomplish — the 
unhappy slave of desires, which are for ever flitting 
before his troubled imagination, but yet are as con- 
stantly eluding all his efforts to obtain their fulfilment. 

The modes of artificial society acquire a mastery over 
the mind of another who wastes his fortune in competing 
in extravagance with those who are more bountifully 
supplied with riches ; and false shame, the offspring of 
this impulse, when abused, prompts him still to continue 
in his career of folly, until at length he becomes over- 
whelmed by debt, and subjected to the mercy of some 
hard-hearted creditor, whom in the days of his pros- 
perity he would not deign to recognise. Oh, to what 
a depth of misery doth man sometimes reduce himself, 
and for what ? To gratify a pitiful craving for distinc- 
tion ! And thus blindly does he forego the happiness 
which the cultivation of nobler sentiments would with 
little risk secure, for the gratification of a single impulse, 
and that not one of the highest order. 

But it is not individuals and private families only 
that have suffered from the insatiable longings of this 
instinct. The majority of the civilised world have often 
been made the unsuspecting instruments for effecting 
the completion of the deeply-laid schemes of some am- 
bitious aspirant for power. Nor can one be surprised 
at their infatuation, for those men of mighty intellect, 
who have been the slaves of this master-passion, have 
seldom failed in convincing others of the purity of their 
intentions. Some, by dissimulation, practice on the 
credulity of the well-disposed ; others obtain the co- 



LOVE OP APPROBATION. 207 

operation of their countrymen through a series of 
patriotic achievements, to the performance of which they 
might have been prompted, in the first instance, by- 
true disinterestedness. But, unfortunately, the master- 
passion which had fanned into an active, energetic, 
wide-spreading flame the latent sparks of generosity 
and nobleness of sentiment has, often by imperceptible 
degrees, become the instigator of oppression, converting 
him who, in the commencement of his career, appeared 
to labour for the general welfare, into the despotic 
denouncer of all those who might differ with him in 
opinion. Lucius Cornelius Sylla, the dictator, affords 
a notable illustration of such change of conduct. Never, 
it was said, was a man more moderate before a victory 
or more cruel after it. Rare, indeed, are the instances 
of great men passing unscathed through the furnace of 
political temptation, and of the few, who have asserted 
by their patriotic conduct the supremacy of the moral 
sentiments, the Greeks can boast of Phocion, Epaminon- 
das, and Aristeides, while Fabricius, Cincinnatus, and 
Junius Brutus are illustrious examples among the 
Romans. And, in more modern times, when the power 
of the empire had fallen into the " sere and yellow leaf," 
arose Stilicho and Belisarius, brilliant luminaries, created 
as it were for the purpose of retarding for a season the 
dark night of sorrow and tribulation which was hastening 
to enshroud the political horizon. But one of the noblest 
instances of disinterested patriotism that has appeared 
upon earth was manifested in the person of George 
Washington, who, after fighting successfully for the inde- 
pendence of his native land, was hailed by the unanimous 
voice of his countrymen as the only man capable of 
conducting to a happy issue the affairs of their newly- 



208 LOVE OF APPROBATION. 

established constitution. In the performance of this 
sacred duty he proved how eminently he was endowed 
with a perfect and harmonious union of all the highest 
powers that adorn human nature, and of those energetic 
affections which assist the will and the intellect in the 
performance of those virtuous actions that have rendered 
him the ornament of his species. 

Let us now turn our attention from this cheering 
picture of the benign influence of the faculty of Love of 
Approbation upon the well-being of society, when it is 
under the control of the moral sentiments, to contemplate 
its disastrous effects upon individuals and communities 
whenever it has become the mainspring in the political 
movements of those whose fortune it was to become the 
chief directors of public affairs. 

It was love of distinction prompted the great Caius 
Marius, a man of obscure parentage and no education,, 
to aspire to the highest honours of the most renowned 
republic that the world has ever seen. He began by 
espousing the cause of his own class, the plebeian ; and, 
after distinguishing himself as a soldier at Numantia, he 
was appointed to be lieutenant to Metellus, the consul, 
who was then carrying on the war against Jugurtha. 
Prompted by unscrupulous ambition he found means of 
superceding his patron and commander, obtained the 
consulship, and conquered Jugurtha, whom he conducted 
in chains to Eome. These successes, and his great 
popularity, obtained for him the highest consideration, 
and, when the State was threatened with destruction by 
the Cimbri and Teutones, the eyes of all parties were 
directed towards him, as the only one capable of averting 
the impending catastrophe. And nobly had he fulfilled 
the duty entrusted to him, had he not tarnished his 



LOVE OF APPROBATION. 209 

victory by his cruelty towards the vanquished. The 
most distinguished honours now awaited him, but his 
selfish ambition could not brook the appearance of a rival. 
And when the rising fame of the brilliant Sylla rendered 
it probable that a formidable one had already made his 
appearance, Marius used every means to thwart the 
measures and curb the rapidity of the career of that 
equally ambitious and unprincipled man. Hence pro- 
ceeded those desolating civil wars which deluged the 
streets of Rome with the blood of some of her noblest 
sons, and ultimately terminated in the cruel and devas- 
tating dictatorship of Sylla. To these succeeded Pompey 
and Julius Caesar, men who possessed all the ambition 
of their predecessors, with more merciful dispositions. 
Their humanity, nevertheless, offered but an insufficient 
barrier to the progress of their ambition, until at length 
the pillars of the commonwealth were torn from their 
foundations. To satisfy their selfish ambition, Octavius 
and Mark Antony consented each to sacrifice his own 
friends to the vindictive fury of the other. The great 
orator, Cicero, was the victim of this wicked com- 
pact. 

It would be tedious to multiply examples of the dis- 
astrous consequences of selfish, ill-regulated love of dis- 
tinction. The history of every nation abounds with them. 
Look at the incessant wars carried on, at vast national 
expense, by our Edwards and our Henrys for the sove- 
reignty of the fairest portion of France. Survey, for a 
while, the pages that record the devastating civil wars, 
which for a long time distracted England, when the 
Houses of York and Lancaster contended for supremacy — 
the barbarities perpetrated by the army of Cromwell in 
Ireland upon the towns which held out in the cause of 

R 



210 LOVE OF APPKOBATION. 

Charles ; and who can forget the direful atrocities of the 
French Revolution ? 

The ambition to rule over others is seldom accompanied 
by true sympathy, but yet the relative weakness of this 
social affection has, fortunately, been sometimes the cause 
of benefits accruing to communities, seldom anticipated 
by the men whose selfish ambition gave rise to them. To 
illustrate this point it may not be deemed wanting in 
moral interest to add the following case. 

Simon de Montfort, the celebrated Earl of Leicester, 
in the reign of Henry the Third, was endowed with great 
intellect, a bold and lofty spirit, and boundless ambition. 
After serving his king on several occasions, both in a civil 
and military capacity, this remarkable man appeared in 
Parliament at the head of the discontented barons, and 
demanded that the administration of affairs should be 
entrusted to twenty-four of their number, who should be 
empowered to redress grievances and reform the State. 
This was conceded, but hostilities subsequently commenced 
between the royal party and the barons, which ended 
in the overthrow of the former at the battle of Lewes. 

Having thus succeeded in curtailing the prerogative of 
the crown, Leicester could not brook the opposition of 
some of his old associates, the barons, who were by no 
means disposed to acquiesce in all the measures proposed 
by him for their adoption. His love of distinction being 
thus thwarted, he resolved upon executing a project which 
it is probable he had long contemplated, and which 
could not fail to gain for him a high degree of popularity, 
and would, at the same time, afford him more ample 
means than he had as yet possessed, of establishing and 
maintaining his authority. 

The changes that were just then manifesting themselves 



LOVE OP APPROBATION. 211 

on the face of society were highly favourable to his views, 
for the inhabitants of the counties, cities, and boroughs, 
who had by their industry amassed considerable wealth 
were, at that time, becoming a class of considerable impor- 
tance in the State. Leicester, profiting by the influence 
which property never fails to bestow, summoned to Par- 
liament, in the year 1265, knights of the shires and 
burgesses, and thus did he become the founder of the 
British House of Commons. How gratifying to see the 
dormant seeds of general liberty springing forth into 
active existence even at the instigation of individual 
ambition, and subsequently budding into ripeness under 
an atmosphere of despotism. 

Of course it is not to be supposed that the cases which 
have just been narrated, resulted from the vigour and 
activity of Love of Approbation alone. It is merely the 
prime instigator of those other powers which minister to 
its appetite, and the kind of nutriment which it relishes 
the most will entirely depend upon the peculiar taste of 
the agent over which it exercises its influence. Its dis- 
tinctive function is the desire of holding a high position 
in the opinion of others. It was the ruling passion in 
the mind of the great Cicero, and the oracle was fully 
justified in warning him against being too much influenced 
by the " affects of the many." In all the busts said to 
be of him, the part of the head where this organ is located 
is remarkably salient. 

There is scarcely a passion of the human mind more 
likely to become the seat of derangement than this. What 
can be more dangerous for a man than to allow vanity 
to usurp the highest place in the assemblage of the mental 
powers ? It strains the energies of the other faculties 
to minister to its insatiable appetite. And, should any 

R 2 



212 LOVE OF APPROBATION. 

unforeseen calamity arise to blast the hopes he had fondly- 
cherished, he becomes, perhaps, the victim of despondency. 
His love of distinction feels wounded by the desertion of 
those whom he caressed in the days of his prosperity. 
He is stung to the quick by the superciliousness of 
others who were once his inferiors. His reflections are 
constantly rivetted upon his own harassed feelings. He 
finds himself alone in the wide world, and at last experi- 
ences consolatory joy in imagining himself to be some 
emperor or king upon whose nod depends the destinies 
of nations. 

In treating of Self-esteem I have given some cases to 
show the effect of disease upon that organ. But it is 
obvious that the organ of Love of Approbation was also 
in a state of disease, in two of them at least. And it is 
worthy of remark that the greater the relative size of an 
organ the more danger there is of its falling into a morbid 
condition. A case just occurs to me of wounded Love 
of Approbation in a gentleman, which was followed by 
marked exhibitions of morbid sensitiveness, that warped 
his judgment as to the conduct of his truest friends, 
and soured his temper, so as to blind him to the real 
nature of the case which disturbed him. He was possessed 
of some very good dispositions, but his Self-esteem 
was excessive. He died many years after that show of 
morbid sensitiveness, and his brain was examined by an 
eminent anatomist. A lesion was therein discovered 
which embraced the organ of Love of Approbation on one 
side, and seemed to trench a little upon Self-esteem. 
The organ of Love of Approbation is very large in the 
cast of Bellingham who shot Mr. Spencer Percival in the 
lobby of the House Commons. His irritation was caused 
by the deep wounds inflicted upon his excessive vanity 



LOVE OF APPROBATION. 213 

by the neglect with which his repeated appeals to the 
governmental authorities were treated. And this chagrin 
was augmented by a marked love of property (see Plate 4). 
In the head of the poet, Pope, this organ was very large, 
and certainly his sensitiveness with respect to censure 
was scarcely ever surpassed. And this being associated 
with large Combativeness and rather large Self-esteem he 
gave vent to his resentment in that matchless satire the 
il Dunciad." The organ was excessively large in Rubil- 
liac's noble bust of Lord Chesterfield, the friend of Pope 
and Bolingbroke ; and the world knows how punctilious 
he was in " sacrificing to the graces." 

The moderate development of the same region of the 
head in Wyat's bust of George the Third corresponds 
exactly with the perfect absence of personal vanity in the 
character of that homely monarch. In the scull of Swift 
the organ was large. But yet in that singular man it 
was subordinate to Self-esteem. While in the scull of 
Robert Burns that of Love of Approbation was dominant. 
In the sculls of Robert Bruce, and the good Duke Hum- 
phrey, of Gloucester, the organ of Self-esteem was in 
the ascendant, though in Humphrey it was guided by 
nobler moral sentiments. While in the scull of the 
unfortunate Edward the Second, Love of Approbation 
vastly predominated. 

Compare the fine expressive bust of the ambitious, 
vain-glorious Sylla, with the most characteristic one of 
the younger Cato, whose disposition was of so opposite a 
character with respect to censure or applause, and the 
organ we are considering will be found to be excessively 
large in the former, and very moderately developed in 
the latter. The contrast between the bust of Cato and 
that of Cicero is also very characteristic. This part of 



214 LOVE OF APPROBATION. 

the head is very prominent in the bust of that merciless 
tyrant, Nero. And is it not recorded that on one occasion 
he ordered the death of a poet whose verses were deemed 
superior to some he had himself read at a public com- 
petition ? Being entirely destitute of nobleness of nature, 
his inordinate vanity, which was the result of a dominant 
organ of the Love of Approbation, became the overruling 
jealous instigator of wanton cruelties. 

The existence of the organ of Love of Approbation and 
its seat in the brain are facts, established by a vast amount 
of positive and negative unvarying evidence. 



CAUTIOUSNESS. 



Cautiousness is one of the most influential and useful 
of the mental faculties. It is it that causes the instinc- 
tive dread of danger ; and thus does it excite, by its 
timely warnings, other faculties to provide means of 
defence against threatening emergencies. Its excessive 
activity in some animals, and the almost total absence 
of it in others, are proofs of its being a distinctive faculty 
of the mind, which providential wisdom has bestowed in 
abundance upon the weak and defenceless ; while its 
active presence was deemed not only unnecessary but 
prejudicial to the well-being of those fierce and powerful 
beasts of prey that cannot obtain the bare necessaries of 
life, without imminent risk of being themselves destroyed. 
That caution is not the result of comprehensive intel- 
lectual powers is placed beyond doubt by the fact of 
its being a leading characteristic of a great majority of 
the lower animals, and even in them its prevalence bears 
no proportion to their segacity. Is not the sagacious 
shepherd's dog, for instance, less influenced by caution 
than the dull, indocile sheep ? 

Since man possesses all the faculties which are enjoyed 
T)y animals collectively, it must be admitted that caution 
is an instinctive affection in him also, for, certainly it 
is not the product either of superior intellect or expe- 



216 CAUTIOUSNESS. 

rience, although experience heightens its usefulness. The 
capacious understanding of Julius Caesar, and his vast 
experience in situations of the greatest danger failed 
to imbue his mind with an adequate amount of instinctive 
cautiousness on all occasions. Otherwise he would not 
consent to be led by false and ungrateful men to his 
destruction after the variety of warnings he had received ; 
while, on the contrary, the great mind of the virtuous 
but timid Cicero was harassed by cautious misgivings, 
even before he could have profited by the lessons of 
experience. 

Cautiousness exercises a marked influence over the 
conduct and manners of mankind. In its comparative 
weakness, the most clear and foreseeing intellect may be 
led into mistakes fatal to happiness. But when it is a 
prominent feature of the mind, there will never be 
wanting an incentive to intellectual circumspection. It 
is an essential ingredient of a prudent mind. Even 
Caesar, whose fearlessness in danger was so conspicuous, 
wanted not that amount of cautious foresight which. 
enabled him to promote his statesmanlike-plans, so as 
always to bring them to a fortunate conclusion. 

But when Cautiousness is disproportionately active, 
irresolution and hesitation follows. An individual, swayed 
by this affection, finds it hard to come to a decision upon 
any subject. Should he pass triumphantly, and with ease, 
through a difficult undertaking, he will, nevertheless, 
be apprehensive of not succeeding on every subsequent 
attempt of the same nature. Such was the case with 
Cicero. According to Plutarch he always trembled when 
he commenced any important speech. And in the 
presence of danger he could scarcely speak at all, as- 
happened on the trial of his brave friend Milo. But,. 



CAUTIOUSNESS. 217 

there were times when he nobly overcame the depressing- 
influence of his predominant caution. 

At an early age some children evince much caution 
in all their acts, while others are continually meeting 
with accidents. When the latter are running their heads 
into danger, the former are apt to cry, "take care." 
These are inclined to be timid and circumspect, the others 
are careless and rash. Now, it is of great value to a 
teacher to find out, at an early period, these peculiarities 
of disposition in their pupils. But at school, when 
children are for a few hours on their compulsory good 
manners, their characteristic tendencies are not readily 
learned by ordinary observation. And, as ignorance of 
the predominant features of character in a child at school 
may lead to a mode of treatment which would, most likely, 
be prejudicial to the present progress and future efficiency 
of his mental faculties, it behoves all men, who have 
the management of education at heart, to foster and 
encourage the study of the only science which affords 
unerring means of finding out at once the peculiar dis- 
positions of children. 

Suppose that a child who possesses a very large organ 
of Caution, with much Love of Approbation, Conscien- 
tiousness, and Benevolence, and little Self-esteem, Firm- 
ness, and Hope, is rendered the frequent object of censure 
and punishment on account of the slowness of his per- 
ceptive faculties, can there be a doubt that the mental 
comfort of such a child would be seriously interfered 
with, to the extent, perhaps, of laying the seeds of un- 
soundness of mind ? Whereas an early knowledge of the 
same character, with a judicious and sympathising method 
of treatment, would probably render his schoolboy days 
full of happiness, and his future course creditable to his 



218 CAUTIOUSNESS. 

instructors, and productive of honour and independence 
to himself. 

A most conclusive proof that Cautiousness is a funda- 
mental faculty of the mind is derived from a certain 
morbid condition of the brain. It has already been shown 
that the workings of the mind may, in all respects save 
one, be healthy, rational and collected, but that, whenever 
the injured cord is struck the intellect loses its balance, 
and a confused and erroneous estimate of everything is 
the result. Caution, like every other faculty, may become 
singly diseased, and its morbid manifestation is biased in 
accordance with the other predominant features of the 
character. For instance, one monomaniac imagines some 
one to be behind the head of his bed, ready to blow his 
brains out with a pistol. Another thinks he is going to 
be poisoned, and refuses to take sustenance. A third is 
constantly agitated by the thought of being pursued by 
some enemy whose whispers he hears, though he fails to 
see his person. Hence he supposes his tormentor to be 
a ventriloquist. A young lady, in whose cerebral con- 
stitution Caution formed a prominent feature, was rela- 
tively deficient in the organs of Self-esteem, Firmness, 
and Hope, whilst those of Conscientiousness, Benevolence, 
Marvellousness, and Veneration were all very prominent- 
She had also much Love of Approbation and a good 
intellect, in which the reflective faculties predominated. 
This high-minded young woman had exalted ideas of the 
paramount importance of fulfilling all Christian duties, 
but at so low a rate did she estimate her own qualities 
that she became terrified by the notion of her own un- 
worthiness, and she sank for a time into a state of fear 
and despondency. 

In Deville's collection of casts there was one of a 



CAUTIOUSNESS. 219 

gentleman who was remarkable for his great Caution. 
It affected him to such a degree that, in making the most 
simple enquiry of a shopman, the hesitation and embarrass- 
ment of his manner was painfully evinced. In that cast, 
the part just over the organ of Secretiveness and in front 
of that of Love of Approbation, which is the seat of 
Cautiousness, was extremely prominent. Indeed, the 
width of the head at that part was the largest I have 
ever seen. In another cast this portion was exceedingly 
small. It was the cast of a young engineer who was 
killed in rashly attempting to catch the iron handle of a 
machine of his own invention while it was rotating rapidly. 
This part was moderate in the gentleman whom I have 
already mentioned as having been the brave captor of 
three highwaymen. In Hoppmer's portrait of Nelson 
the organ of Caution is only moderate. It bears a similar 
proportion to the rest of the head in Thorwaldsen's bust 
of Lord Exmouth. Li Nollekens' bust of Lord Erskine 
the organ is moderate, in that of Lord Mansfield, by the 
same artist, it is much larger. The same part of the head 
is rather small in the busts of the late Duke of York, 
and in George the Third, one of them by Nollekens, the 
other by Wyatt. In Lord Grenville it is well-developed. 
It is moderate in Mr. Whitbread, at one time the virtual 
leader of the Whigs, and in Chantrey's fine bust of the 
brave Lord Castlereagh the organ is but moderately 
developed. In the print of the famous Sir Kinelm 
Digby the region of Caution is rather small. And, 
certainly he committed imprudent acts, notwithstanding 
the greatness of his talents and the great kindness of his 
disposition. The organ is large in the cast of Lord 
Chancellor Eldon, who was remarkable for his hesitation 
in deciding causes in Chancery, notwithstanding the 



220 CAUTIOUSNESS. 

vastness of his legal abilities. In the unhappy Doctor 
Dodd the same portion of the head is extremely narrow, 
while it is broad in Doctor Gall, in whose head it is 
finely balanced with Combativeness, Firmness, and Con- 
scientiousness. But in Dodd the first-named organ is 
large and the other two are small. And how strikingly 
accordant are the characters and cerebral organization of 
these remarkable men (see Plate 9). This organ is small 
in the large globular head of Richard Patch, the vile, 
ungrateful culprit who, with all his intense cunning, 
showed want of caution as to the time and mode of 
committing the foul deed for which he suffered death 
upon the gallows. In Courvoisier, the cautious murderer 
of his good master, the organ is very salient, but in 
Rush, the incautious assassin, the same region is singu- 
larly narrow, while Combativeness is inordinately pro- 
tuberant. The organ of Caution is excessively small in 
the scull of Thomas Luscombe, who killed two young 
women at Exeter, and then cried the papers about the 
streets for the apprehension of the culprit, while he was 
wearing at the same time a coat which he had stolen a 
short time previously. Secretiveness, also, was small 
in this criminal. 

The organ of Caution is strikingly characteristic of 
the sculls of the Gentoos and the ancient Chinese, and 
much less so of the New Zealanders and the North 
American Indians ; though the absolute width of the head 
at that part is greater in the bold Maori and the fierce 
Indian, than in the peace-loving, industrious Chinaman, 
or the unwarlike and proverbially timid Hindoo. This 
fact shows how erroneous would be the practice of esti- 
mating special phases of character in accordance with the 
absolute size of any isolated organ. For the balance of 



CAUTIOUSNESS. 221 

power in the whole head should never be lost sight of. 
The same region of the head is also very salient in the 
uncompressed sculls of the Incas of Peru, as well as in 
those of the Tahitians and Sandwich Islanders. And 
it is a prominent feature in the sculls of the Esquimeaux, 
though these are characteristically long and narrow. 
This last quality is a marked attribute of those of the 
Greenland coasts, as far west as Melville Bay. But 
this narrowness is not so observable in those from 
Kotzebue Sound, on the West, where they partake some- 
what of the form of the Shaswoop and Chymmisyan 
Indians. The organ of Caution is thoroughly established. 






BENEVOLENCE. 



Perhaps no affection of the mind has given rise to more 
erroneous opinions with regard to the source from which 
it springs than Benevolence. Some writers of eminence 
have supposed that acts of beneficence were the result 
of a proper intellectual estimate of the principle of social 
and political utility. Others, that they spring from selfish 
motives. The former of these were undoubtedly right 
in believing that communities would derive vast advan- 
tages from the exercise of mutual kindliness. 

But they were mistaken in imagining that a fore- 
knowledge of those happy consequences was the primitive 
source of charity and goodwill amongst men. For it 
is not every political economist, who has applied the 
powers of a vigorous understanding to the inculcation 
of the advantages derivable by society in general from 
the adoption of such a course of action, that has been 
found to be the most unostentatious and generous com- 
forter of individual affliction. 

The hypothesis of those who suppose that Self-love 
is the centre whence all our motives to action originate, 
is inadequate to account for deeds which must be essen- 
tially the offspring of instinctive Benevolence. Un- 
doubtedly, the man who spends his time and property 
in attending to the wants, and relieving the distress of 
the afflicted objects of sickness and of poverty, cannot 



BENEVOLENCE. 223 

but experience that ennobling inward sense of satisfac- 
tion which must naturally accompany the consciousness 
of doing good. The delight experienced by the really 
benevolent and humane in the performance of acts of 
mercy and of charity is nature's rich reward. But is 
it a selfish craving for this inward feeling of satisfaction 
that prompts to acts of beneficence ? No, there cannot 
be any two things more intrinsically opposed to one 
another than selfishness and benevolence. Selfishness 
and strict justice are incompatible. Mercy, which is a 
mode of action of benevolence is, on the contrary, an 
essential ingredient of justice. " Mercy," says Edmund 
Burke, " is not a thing opposed to justice. It is an 
essential part of it; as necessary in criminal cases 
as in civil affairs equity is to law." Selfishness whets 
the appetite of avarice. Benevolence is the source of 
charity. Selfishness, when opposed, is irritable and severe. 
"Charity is patient, is kind." Selfishness repines at the 
superior prosperity of a rival, is arrogant. " Charity 
envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up." 
Selfishness seeketh worldly power and applause. " Charity 
is not ambitious, seeketh not her own." Selfishness 
judgeth harshly. " Charity thinketh no evil." 

Benevolence is the noblest attribute of the human mind. 
The New Testament abounds with its praise. You have 
heard, says Christ, that it hath been said, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to 
you, " Love your enemies. For if you love them that 
love you, what reward shall you have ? Do not even the 
publicans this ? And if you salute your brethren only, 
what do you more ? Do not also the heathens this ? 
Strong attachment causes us to love our brethren, 
even when it is combined with other feelings, which 



224 BENEVOLENCE. 

are not of a high order. Do we not find individuals, 
who have combined for the purpose of gratifying some 
of the lowest passions, ready to run all hazards for the 
attainment of each other's safety, but whose career 
has been marked by a total disregard for the happiness of 
others and a bitter hatred of their enemies? The com- 
mand, " Love thy neighbour as thyself," was specially 
addressed to the sentiment of Benevolence. And, again, 
Christ says to his disciples, " Keep my commandments." 
And this is my commandment, "That you love one 
another as I have loved you." St. Paul calls Charity, 
which is the offspring of Benevolence, the bond of per- 
fectness. And he considers it the highest attribute of 
religion. "And now there remain," says he, "Faith, 
Hope, and Charity — these three — but the greatest of all 
is Charity." 

Indeed, it is manifest that prayer and thanksgiving, 
which result from the activity of Faith, Hope, and 
Veneration, cannot, without Charity, of which Benevo- 
lence is the true and never-failing source, avail much 
towards the purification of the soul. " Not every one," 
says Christ, "that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will 
of my Father, who is in heaven, he shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." What, then, do we find to be 
most pleasing to his heavenly Father ? What shall 
procure endless beatitude ? To love God above all things 
and our neighbour as ourselves. The following text is 
a complete attestation of this. Then shall the king say 
to them that shall be on his right hand " Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world. For I was 
hungry, and you gave me to eat ; I was thirsty, and you 



BENEVOLENCE. 225 

gave me to drink ; I was a stranger, and you took me in ; 
naked, and you covered me ; sick, and you visited me ; 
I was in prison, and you came to me." Then shall the 
just answer him, saying, " Lord, when did we see Thee 
hungry ? " And the king, answering, shall say to them, 
il Amen, I say to you as long as you did it to one of those 
little ones you did it to me." 

Such is the prospect held out to those who faithfully 
practice the virtues which spring from this noble senti- 
ment. How necessary it is, therefore, for those, who 
are entrusted with the care and education of children, 
assiduously to inculcate, not only by precept, but by 
example, the importance of rationally fulfilling its in- 
stinctive suggestions. 

Compassion for the distressed, meekness in the exercise 
of authority, modesty during triumph, and patience in 
affliction, are emanations from this primitive sentiment ; 
and if mankind did but reflect somewhat more upon 
the happiness afforded by the practice of these virtues, 
how few should we find to be the harrassed victims of 
disappointed ambition, of hateful arrogance, or of the 
deplorable evils arising from the selfish indulgence of the 
animal propensities. 

How inimitable is the following description of the 
effects of active Benevolence by the greatest of nature's 
bards — 

" The quality of mercy is not strained, 

It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, 
Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed : 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 

S 



226 BENEVOLENCE. 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings : 

But mercy is above the sceptered sway, 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 

It is an attribute to God himself ; 

And earthly power doth then show likest Grod's 

When mercy seasons justice." 

Almsgiving is one of the modes of action of Benevo- 
lence, but that is not so certain a criterion of beneficence 
of disposition as unpretending meekness of manner ; since 
individuals, remarkable for haughtiness of temper, have 
often distinguished themselves by their liberality in 
contributing to public charities, sometimes from con- 
siderations of public utility, sometimes to gratify a thirst 
for applause. But the man who gives alms from the 
pure love of relieving distress, independently of any 
intellectual calculation of its advantages or of ambition 
to gain applause, cannot possibly be habitually arrogant 
or morose. Christ, in his sermon on the Mount, drew a 
well marked line of distinction between the alms deeds, 
which proceed from Love of Approbation, and those 
which arise from Benevolence. " Therefore, when thou 
dost an alms deed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as 
the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 
that they may be honoured by men. Amen, I say to you, 
they have received their reward. But when thou dost 
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand 
doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father 
who seeth in secret will repay thee." 

Indeed, the satisfaction felt by the really benevolent 
in doing acts of charity, no change of circumstances can 
deprive them of ; but that which is the product of osten- 
tatious almsgiving may be embittered by various casualties. 
"A single whiff " of the incense of flattery withheld from 



BENEVOLENCE. 227 

those who are prompted by love of praise or distinction 
alone to acts of charity, is sufficient to bereave them of 
much of the delight that should accompany the relief of 
distress, and to cause them to slacken their progress in 
the paths of beneficence, whilst true instinctive benevo- 
lence requires no extraneous motives to stimulate it, 
for it contains within itself a salient spring of generous 
action. 

The influence of love of approbation, however, in 
prompting to acts of charity, should not be depreciated, 
for it is a powerful incentive to active munificence. But, 
although alms-deeds proceed from a variety of motives, 
yet it is manifest that there is but one genuine source 
of charity, and that, in an abstract sense, charity is an 
elementary faculty of the mind, and is not the result 
of mixed feelings and affections. The man whom love 
of praise alone urges to the performance of deeds of 
charity is always fully sensible of the good he does ; but 
he, who is generous from the whisperings of benevolence 
is scarcely conscious of his own superior merit. 

This affection is the source of sympathy, and it is 
also the chief ingredient of that distinctive attribute of 
generous minds, called gratitude. The benevolent man 
cherishes in the deepest recesses of his soul the remem- 
brance of benefits conferred on him, nor can any change 
of conduct in his early friend obliterate his thankfulness, 
although he might deem it right to discontinue for ever 
his former intimacy. 

A singular case was shown to me, a long time ago at 
Peckham Lunatic Asylum, of a man who had lost his 
reason from excess of gratitude. He had.been for many 
years a pauper in Clerkenwell workhouse, where his 
uniform good conduct, readiness to oblige, and rare 

s 2 



228 BENEVOLENCE. 

amiability of disposition, had gained for him the goodwill 
and marked consideration of successive parish authorities. 
Anxious to reward so much goodness, shining forth as 
it did, in this instance, through the gloom with which 
poverty had surrounded this humble creature, the 
authorities granted him a pension of 3-s. Gd. a week with 
leave to go where he pleased. And what was the sad 
consequence ? The poor man's gratitude was so excessive 
on having received a reward so disproportioned, in his 
own opinion, to any meritorious action that had ever 
been done by him, that his mind broke down, and his 
insanity was permanent. I well remember the tears of 
thankfulness that rolled down his care-worn cheeks, 
when the visiting physician, the late Dr. Ewin's, kindly 
asked him how he felt. He was a man about sixty, with 
a most benevolent expression of countenance, but strongly 
tinged with the hue of sadness ; and upon his taking off 
his cap one of the largest organs of Benevolence I have 
ever seen was presented to our view. At the same time 
his organs of Firmness, Self-esteem, Acquisitiveness, 
and Destructiveness were all small. Thus, then, did the 
inherent weakness of these antagonistic faculties enhance 
the activity of benevolence by allowing free scope for 
the exercise of its pure and elevated functions. 

A melancholy instance of the ill-effects of the exorbitant 
energy of morbidly excited benevolence was narrated in the 
Times, of November 1839, in the following words. " An 
extraordinary trial took place not long ago before the 
criminal court of Grenada. For some years past there had 
been residing in the village of Ugyai a charitable indi- 
vidual, named Don Yincente de Bentaval-y-Sazar, whose 
whole fortune was devoted to the improvement of the 
condition of the villagers and in relieving the poor. To 



BENEVOLENCE. 229 

such an extent did Don Vincente carry his generosity that 
he denied himself almost the necessaries of life in order to 
succour the necessitous ; and he had been known to take 
the cloak from his own back to cover that of a poor female 
who was without one. Suddenly, the peaceful inhabitants 
of the village were alarmed at accounts of murders com- 
mitted in their neighbourhood, and all attempts to discover 
their origin were vain. It was merely known from the 
circumstances attending them, that they must have been 
committed by the same hand. Suddenly, however, the 
mystery was to be revealed. Two peasants, who had 
entered a recess to shelter themselves from the sun and 
eat their midday meal, were startled by the firing of a gun, 
and, rushing out to learn what was the matter, they saw 
the body of a murdered man, and the murderer standing 
over him rifling his pockets. They threw themselves on 
the assassin, and, having secured him, were in the greatest 
astonishment at seeing that it was the charitable Don 
Vincente. As the denial of the crime he had just 
committed was impossible, he confessed that he was the 
author of all the murders which had been committed, 
and stated that his only motive was to obtain money for 
the poor, his own resources being exhausted. In his 
defence before his judges he declared that his first murder, 
that of a wealthy priest, took place under the following 
circumstances : — 

" In Don Vincente's village two young persons were 
betrothed to each other; but a sudden calamity, which 
occurred to the father of the female prevented his paying 
the promised portion with his daughter, and the marriage 
was on the point of being broken off. Don Vincente, 
hearing of the circumstance, resolved to raise the money ; 
and applied to several acquaintances for a loan, but 



230 BENEVOLENCE. 

received a refusal from all of them. Shortly afterwards 
he met the priest on his road, and asked him to lend 
him thirty ounces of gold. The priest, who knew him 
well, replied that he had a hundred ounces in his 
portmanteau on the back of his mule, and that he was 
welcome to it all ; but, Don Vincente, having, afterwards, 
in his joy, told him for what purpose the money was 
intended, the priest laughed at him, and said he was 
mad, and that for such a purpose he should not have 
a single ounce. Don Vincente, irritated at this, shot 
him dead, and, having taken his gold, gave the wedding 
dowry, and distributed the rest in various acts of charity. 
Having committed this murder, he resolved to make the 
robbery of the rich the means of meeting the continual 
wants of his poor pensioners ; and as this was only to 
be done by taking life, he committed murder after 
murder, until he was detected. On hearing the sentence 
of death pronounced upon him by his judges, he exclaimed, 
Oh, my God! who now will take care of my poor ? " 

Here, then, is a powerful sentiment of benevolence 
worked up by constant exercise to a diseased condition ; 
so much so, that all sense of justice, circumspection and 
reflection seemed to have been disregarded by this 
unfortunate man. 

What a strange instance this is of the calamities which 
may arise from allowing any single faculty of the mind 
to be the sole spring of our actions, while we suffer 
other most essential powers to languish into inaction, 
and thereby destroy the mental harmony which proceeds 
from the mutual influence of well-balanced moral organs. 
For, sentiments the most elevated, when too energetic, 
may, as we have seen, be productives of evil, unless they 
be kept in check by controlling powers, reasonably 



BENEVOLENCE. 231 

directed. Thus only can excessive disproportion be at 
all harmonized and amended. 

How necessary it is, therefore, to watch with peculiar 
care the dawning of the youthful mind, in order to check 
the undue excitement of any faculty. And what a 
prospect does the science of Phrenology open to mankind 
of being able to know the mental tendencies and dispo- 
sitions of children by the form of their heads, for it is 
obvious that in the want of such assistance we are com- 
pelled to wait for indications of temper and ability in the 
actions of youth ; and are thereby forced to allow those 
tendencies to ripen into habit before a correct estimate of 
character can be formed. Whereas, by its help we can 
predicate tendencies, and prevent those tendencies from 
acquiring augmented strength through exercise, by the 
timely adoption of such methods of training as are best 
adapted to give a salutary direction to the moral, religious, 
and intellectual faculties. 

That mankind, with a comparatively insignificant 
exception as to numbers, is amply endowed with the 
sentiment of Benevolence cannot admit of a doubt; for 
even the worst habits and most perverted dispositions can 
never wholly extinguish the nascent flame of kindliness 
which the Creator has lighted up within us. Does a horse 
fall under a load in the street, numbers rush to the relief 
of the poor animal, and in their anxiety to extricate him 
willingly expose themselves to the risk of personal injury. 
Should a strong man maltreat and beat a weak one, what 
is the feeling evinced by the lowest individuals in a 
crowd ? Sympathy for the sufferer ; and this arouses 
their indignation against the oppressor. Even criminals 
have often, on trying occasions, displayed much benevolent 
tenderness. To illustrate this it will be well to mention 



232 BENEVOLENCE. 

a case that occurred at the assizes of Galway many years 
ago. 

Three young men, named Connor, Lardner, and Burke, 
were tried there, for burglary and robbery at the house of 
a small farmer, who had at that time been collecting rents 
for his landlord. They were all convicted on the single 
testimony of the man they had robbed, and were sentenced 
to death. The prosecutor then eagerly prayed the judge 
and jury to grant mercy to Burke, on account of the 
humanity he had displayed on the night of the robbery. 
He stated that Connor and Lardner had tied him down 
with strong cords upon his bed, in a very painful position ; 
and then ransacked his drawers. All this time Burke kept 
watch at the door, and could have escaped with the others, 
without being seen at all by the prosecutor. But on 
hearing the agonizing cries of the poor man to be released 
from bondage, Burke came with a candle to his bedside 
to undo the knots ; and said, " I could not have the heart 
to leave you alone in this state." It was during the 
performance of this humane act that the witness identified 
his features through the crape covering, a proof of the 
risk he ran in fulfilling the dictates of instinctive 
Benevolence. This young man's sentence was commuted 
at once to transportation by the judge, who said that for 
that signal act of humanity not a hair of his head should 
suffer. 

Not very long after his arrival at Sydney, he was said 
to have received his manumission for good conduct. From 
his childhood this young man was remarkable for mildness 
and generosity, and had borne until then the character of 
an industrious man. But he was the victim of the direful 
influence of bad company upon some good, but unstable 
dispositions. 



BENEVOLENCE. 233 

That pure, unalloyed benevolence is a power of the 
mind distinct in its nature from any other faculty or 
combination of faculties is a truth which cannot be con- 
troverted. Its separate existence, too, as a fundamental 
power implies the presence of an organ in the brain for 
its manifestation. And well-attested experience has estab- 
lished it as an indubitable fact that, in all persons who 
are remarkable for benevolence, there exists a marked 
elevation of the superior anterior part of the frontal bone, 
commencing at the top of the forehead, in the median 
line, and extending backwards about two inches ; while 
the same part is small in those who are noted for instinc- 
tive cruelty or a heartless disregard of the sufferings of 
others. Not that there are not to be met with men 
endowed with a good development of the organ of Bene- 
volence, who are capable of doing cruel acts. But this 
shows that no man should predicate character without 
taking a careful survey of all the organs so as to be able 
to form a correct judgment as to their mutual influence. 

It will not be deemed uninteresting to mention how 
this organ of Benevolence was discovered by Grail. 

Long before he thought of placing goodness of heart in 
the brain, his curiosity was excited by one of his friends, 
who used to say to him, "As you are engaged in the 
researches of the external marks, which indicate the 
qualities and faculties, you ought to examine the head of 
my servant Joseph. It is impossible to find goodness in 
a higher degree than in this boy. For more than ten 
years that he has been in my service, I have seen nothing 
in him but benevolence and gentleness. This is astonish- 
ing in one who, without any education, has grown up 
in the midst of an ill-bred rabble of servants." Upon 
hearing this Grail recalled to his recollection " The habitual 



234 BENEVOLENCE. 

conduct of a young man whom he had known from his 
tenderest childhood, and who distinguished himself from 
his numerous brothers and sisters by the goodness of his 
heart. Though he passionately loved the sports of his 
age," says Gall, " and his greatest pleasure was to scour 
the forests in pursuit of birds' nests, as soon as one of 
his brothers or sisters was sick, a more irresistible 
inclination kept him at home, and he bestowed on the 
patient the most assiduous attention. When there were 
distributed to the children grapes, apples, cherries, he 
had always the smallest part, and rejoiced to see the 
others better provided for than himself. He was never 
better pleased than when anything agreeable happened 
to those he loved. In this case he often shed tears of 
joy. He took care of sheep, dogs, rabbits, pigeons, birds ; 
and when one of his birds died he wept bitterly, which 
never failed to draw on him the ridicule of his companions. 
And even now," continues Gall, " benevolence and good- 
ness are the distinctive character of this individual. 

" His character has certainly not taken this turn from 
education. On the contrary, others, in regard to him, 
have pursued a conduct which should have produced an 
opposite effect. I began to suspect, therefore, that what 
is called a good heart is not an acquired quality, but 
innate. 

" At the same time, I spoke of the goodness of heart 
so highly extolled in the servant Joseph, in a numerous 
family. ' Ah,' interrupted the eldest daughter, ' our 
brother Charles is precisely the same, you must really 
examine his head. I cannot tell you how good a boy 
he is.' 

" I had therefore in sight three subjects whose goodness 
of character was well acknowledged. I took casts of all 



BENEVOLENCE. 235 

three, I put their busts side by side, and examined them 
till I had the character common to these three heads, 
otherwise very differently formed. In the interval I 
had applied myself to find similar subjects in schools, 
families, etc., in order to be prepared to multiply and 
rectify my observations. I also extended these observa- 
tions to animals, and I collected in a short time so great 
a number of facts, that there is no quality or fundamental 
faculty or organ whose existence is better established 
than that of Goodness, and the organ on which it 
depends."* 

The length of this quotation will, it is hoped, be excused, 
as it is given solely with the view of showing Gall's 
method of discovery and of his scrupulous determination 
not to admit anything as a fact, in proof of the truth- 
fulness of his philosophy, which he did not find to be 
strictly, and beyond all question correct. 

Spurzheim and every other subsequent investigator 
have verified Gall's discovery, and the collection of 
Deville alone, if there was no other in existence, afforded 
a sufficient amount of evidence to substantiate it beyond 
the possibility of doubt. 

I might fill pages with cases over and over again noticed 
by myself which prove the unvarying connection between 
goodness of heart and the development of the anterior 
superior portion of the head just above the forehead in 
the middle line. But a few will suffice. The organ of 
Benevolence is very large in the head of the negro 
Eustache Belin. This man got the prize of virtue at 
Paris for his singularly humane and generous conduct 
(see Plate 5). It is very small in Greenacre, who basely 

* .American translation. 



236 BENEVOLENCE. 

murdered, under circumstances of premeditated wicked- 
ness, the woman whom he had promised to marry, and 
died on the gallows without evincing the slightest signs 
of remorse. It is large in the cast of John Clare, the 
Northamptonshire peasant poet, who was endowed with 
sentiments of the most amiable and generous kind. When 
a mere boy he contrived, by the " sweat of his brow, as 
a farm labourer, to earn a scanty subsistence for his 
helpless mother and rheumatic father. The same part 
of the head is small in the cast of Martine, or Marline, a 
Frenchman who was guillotined for the murder of his 
widowed mother who supplied him with what money she 
could afford. But suspecting that she had property 
concealed he murdered her in the expectation of getting 
at once all she possessed (see Plate 9). Benevolence is 
very small in the head of Steventon, who robbed an old 
woman on the high road near Hereford of ten pence, 
and then killed her. Having soon after boasted of what 
he had done a constable who came to arrest him, very 
nearly fell a victim to his fury. So low was this man's 
head in the moral region that he was not conscious of 
having done wrong. He was, in truth, a moral idiot. 
The organ is small in the Prussian woman, Gotfried, 
already noticed under the head of Destructiveness. 

Benevolence is very small in the head of Lacinaire, 
the cold blooded, remorseless assassin, and in the casts 
of the least merciful of culprits : in Bishop and Williams, 
for instance, who murdered the poor Italian boy and 
several other persons to sell their bodies to the anatomists. 
On the contrary, the same part of the head is invariably 
found large in all those who have been conspicuous for 
generosity, mercy, and forgivingness of temper. In 
Sharp's fine print of Kichard Keynolds, the benevolent 






BENEVOLENCE. 237 

quaker of Colebrooke Dale, the organ is exceedingly 
prominent, and it is very large in Audran's print of 
Fenelon. As examples from low life where education 
had but little influence in forming character, it may be 
interesting to compare White's fine engraving of Jack 
Shepherd, after a drawing of the same size by Sir James 
Thornhill, with a good print of Eobert Bloomfield, the 
author of u The Farmer's Boy," published by himself. In 
the former, who was an arrant but ingenious thief, Bene- 
volence, as well as the other organs of the moral and 
religious sentiments, is comparatively flat, while the same 
region of the head is high and protuberant in the gentle 
and moral poet Bloomfield. 

In Sir J. Reynolds' portrait of Oliver Groldsmith, the 
organ of Benevolence is very large. And it is very con- 
spicuous in the cast of the scull of Robert Burns. In 
the mask of Henry the Fourth of France the organ is 
very salient. He pardoned his enemies, and wished that 
he might live to see a fowl in the pot of every peasant in 
his kingdom. That sentiment of homely benevolence, 
says Burke, was worth all the splendid sayings that are 
recorded of kings. In the best busts and coins of Julius 
Caesar, the organ of Benevolence is large, while it is not 
adequately developed in a very fine head that still remains 
of Marius, which is, at the same time, much broader at 
Destructiveness than the busts of Caesar. The one 
generously pardoned all his enemies, the other slaughtered 
his with vindictive ferocity. In the busts of Nero and 
Caracalla, the same part of the head is greatly depressed, 
while it is remarkably elevated in those of Antoninus Pius 
and Marcus Aurelius. 

We have already seen that in the lower animals, also, 
we find particular dispositions accompanied by peculiar 



238 BENEVOLENCE. 

forms of the head. In all those that are remarkable for 
gentleness the scull is always found to be elevated in the 
median line above the eyes and between the ears, and a 
remarkable flatness of the same part is characteristic of the 
ferocious tribes. Compare the leopard, the panther, or 
the tiger, with the poodle dog or the gentle spaniel, and 
there can be no difficulty in seeing at a glance the vast 
disparity. In all birds that are gentle, such as the dove, 
the scull is high in proportion to its width ; it is low and 
broad in the hawk and the eagle. There is, also, a vast 
difference between the appearance of the flat scull of the 
furious baboon and the elevated ones of the chimpanzee 
and orang-outang. 

The diversity of character manifested in various kind& 
of wild animals, that roam unmolested and unchecked, 
in pursuit of objects suited to the gratification of their 
appetites, in the same lands, and exposed to the influence 
of the same external circumstances, cannot possibly have 
had its rise in habit or education ; but must be the result 
of corporeal organs, specially adapted to be the expositors 
of such instinctive peculiarities. A still stronger proof 
presents itself in domestic animals. Dogs of the same 
litter manifest, even in the first months of their existence, 
tempers the most opposite. Some are, as they grow older, 
vicious, and insensible to kindness, others lick the hand 
that smites them. Two female cats, one the offspring of 
the other, had always been subjected to the same mode of 
treatment. Yet their tempers differed widely. The old 
one was remarkable for gentleness, and delighted in being 
caressed. The other was distant and cross-tempered, and 
was never known to come of her own accord into anyone's 
lap, or to remain there if taken into it. These cats re- 
sembled each other in every way except the form of the 



BENEVOLENCE. 239 

head, which was high and somewhat arched in the one, 
and flat in the other between the ears. Gentleness and 
docility in the horse is always indicated by an elevation of 
the head, between the ears, about three inches above the 
eyes. Among mankind do we not find the greatest 
difference in respect to goodness even in members of the 
same family. Some are grudging and ill-natured, others 
gentle and kind-hearted ; and the form of their heads 
differs widely in the region of the organ of Benevolence. 

In the various races of wild uncultivated men, whom 
the blessings of civilization had not reached, our travellers 
have met with some who were meek, docile, and to some 
extent, reliable ; while others were found to be indocile, 
morose, and treacherous. And it may here be repeated 
that their sculls present differences of form, exactly in 
accordance with the great law of nature discovered by 
Dr. Gall. 

It is presumed that enough has been said in the 
preceeding pages to prove that compassion for the 
afflicted, and benevolent aspirations for the advent of 
universal happiness, are not simply the result of any 
intellectual consideration, as to the principle of social 
utility; and, that so far from having their origin in 
in self-love, as some speculative writers have supposed, 
they are diametrically opposed to it. That they are not 
the offspring of purely religious sentiment has also 
been shewn ; although these certainly tend to enhance 
their activity. That benevolence is distinct from the 
abstract sense of justice is proved by its being found to 
be a marked feature in the characters of unjust and 
criminal individuals. Nevertheless, it has been shown 
that this " Attribute to God himself," is an essential 
ingredient of justice. For the simple love of justice 



240 BENEVOLENCE. 

may lead to acts of injustice, where the other mental 
faculties are incapable of seeing what is really just. That, 
although it is not the sole promoter of almsdeeds, it is 
their only genuine and lasting source. And that benevo- 
lence is an innate quality of the human mind, and not the 
result of education, has been fully shown by a reference 
to instances of individuals, brought up precisely in the 
same manner, differing widely from each other in regard 
to meekness and generosity of disposition. 

Hence it cannot be doubted that benevolence is a 
fundamental affection and not a mode of action of any 
other faculty. It may be well to state in addition to 
those cases already named that the organ of Benevolence 
is exceedingly large in the portrait of Dr. Cogan, the 
author of " Ethical Questions " and founder of the Royal 
Humane Society ; and of Captain Coram who raised the 
Foundling Hospital ; and in St. Vincent De Paul, who 
was a being of the most indefatigable beneficence. The 
situation of the organ has been already pointed out. 



VENERATION-SENSE OP DEVOTION. 



The convolutions which lie just behind the organ of 
Benevolence and occupy the central portion of the top 
of the head, cause, when they are abounding, a marked 
elevation of that part called the fontanelle, in infants. 
They are covered, partly, by the superior portion of the 
frontal bone, and partly by the anterior superior angles of 
parietal bones. The size of this region bears no fixed 
proportion to the organ of Benevolence in front of it, nor 
to that of Firmness which has its seat immediately behind 
it. Sometimes, indeed, these two organs are remarkably 
salient, while this one is depressed. Of this fact the 
heads of William Godwin and Rammohun Roy are 
striking examples. On the contrary, this part, when 
very large, is often accompanied by an ample develop- 
ment of the other two, as may be seen in the casts of 
Canova, Flaxman, Crabbe, and Sir "Walter Scott. The 
disparity of form in this region of the head between Lord 
Chancellor Eldon and Godwin is conspicuous in a rare 
degree. And between Lord Eldon and Richard Carlile, 
the publisher of Deistical books, the contrast is still more 
remarkable (see Plates, 1, 2, 3, 10.) 

These convolutions constitute the organ of Veneration. 
And they are not to be found in the brain of the orang- 
outang, although it approaches nearer to the brain of man 

T 



242 VENEKATION. 

than does that of any other species of animal. This fact 
was demonstrated by Spurzheim, before the Royal 
Society, on the 14th of May, 1829. And it was pub- 
lished by Treutel, Wurtz, and Richter, 30 Soho Square, 
London, in 1830. 

In the history of the discovery of the religious 
sentiment, as a fundamental faculty of the mind, and 
of its organ, Gall says, " There were ten children of us 
in the house of my father ; my brothers, my sisters and 
myself all received the same education ; but our faculties 
and tendencies were very different. One of my brothers, 
from his infancy, had a strong tendency to devotion. 
His playthings were church vases, which he sculptured 
himself, copes and surplices which he made with paper. 
He prayed to God and said mass all day ; and, when he 
was obliged to miss service at church, he passed his time 
in the house in ornamenting and gilding a crucifix of 
wood. My father had destined him to commerce; but 
he had an invincible aversion to the business of a merchant, 
"because he said it forced one to lie. At the age of 
twenty-three years he lost all patience ; having lost all 
hope of pursuing his studies, he fled from the house and 
turned hermit. Five years after he took orders ; and, 
till his death, lived in exercises of devotion and penance." 
He goes on to say, " I observed in schools that, independ- 
ently of other faculties, certain pupils had no susceptibility 
for religious instruction, while others were very eager for 

it This inclination was born in them without 

its being known how, and without its being possible to 
attribute it to example, education or surrounding objects. 
Most of these young persons devoted themselves to this 
career, contrary to the wishes of their parents and 
instructors." 



VENERATION. 243 

Afterwards, being persuaded that the tendency to piety 
and the exercises of devotion are innate, Grail recalled 
the observations which he had made in his infancy on 
himself and his fellow-pupils. He visited churches ot 
all sects and devoted himself especially to observing the 
heads of those who prayed most fervently, or who were 
most absorbed in their pious contemplations. And he 
goes on to say, " I was first struck by the circumstance 
that the most fervent devotees I had seen were almost 
always bald. Yet I asked myself what can baldness have 
in common with devotion ? Women are rarely bald, yet 
they are more devout than men. I soon observed, how- 
ever, that bald heads often rise gradually to the top, and 
that it was precisely this form of head which had first 
struck me. As soon as I was convinced by a considerable 
number of observations that most devout persons have 
heads so formed, I visited the monasteries and observed 
the monks, taking care to collect at the same time exact 
information in relation to their moral character. My 
observations were confirmed in those who performed the 
functions of preacher and confessor, but not always in 
the servants, as the butlers, cooks, etc." Thus did Gall 
continue to multiply his observations till he had satisfied 
himself that the part of the brain above described was the 
seat of the sentiment of the belief in God and of the 
disposition to religious worship. 

Subsequent investigations have fully established the 
correctness of Gall's opinion, namely that fervent senti- 
ments of devotion are always accompanied by a marked 
elevation of the centre of the top of the head. But 
though this coincidence is constant, still this part of 
the head has been found large in some individuals who 
were not at all remarkable for the strength of their 

T 2 



244 VENEKATION. 

religious belief. Gall was, therefore, mistaken in attri- 
buting religious belief in the existence of God to the 
action of this part of the brain alone. It is true that a 
strong tendency to devotional exercises prepares the 
mind for the reception of those revelations, the most 
sublime of which are so shrouded in mysteries that the 
profoundest understanding is utterly incapable of fathom- 
ing their depths. Devotion to God is a mode of action 
of a fundamental power, the function of which is simply 
reverence. But it does not appear to comprehend within 
its sphere of action the power of instinctively suggesting 
the nature of the objects of its respect or adoration. 
These must be seen through the agency of other powers. 
A man, for instance, whose sense of justice and firmness 
are strikingly characteristic, but who has little benevolence, 
will respect the man who exacts in all cases strict retri- 
bution without paying proper attention to the cry of 
mercy. On the contrary, the individual in whose dis- 
position benevolence is associated with justice and firm- 
ness in an equal degree, will revere him only whose 
acts of retributive justice bear the impress of benignity. 
Again, one in whom meekness is the dominant character- 
istic will love and respect him the most who is more 
ready to forgive injuries than to retaliate. And the one 
whose mental vision can instinctively descry through the 
shining portals of Faith the divine object of adoration, 
will value him the most whose life is spent to a large 
extent in devotional exercises. It is the same with 
respect to other faculties. Who, for instance, can be 
more venerated by lovers of freedom than the unselfish 
hero of liberty ? The most exalted function of this faculty 
is adoration of a supreme, omnipotent being, an im- 
material spirit, whose nature and essence the intellect 



VENERATION. 245 

of man is incapable of appreciating. But before we can 
adore anything it is requisite that we should have some 
idea of its existence. The sentiment of veneration itself 
cannot originate the idea. What, then, is its source? 
Is it the result of intelligence ? 

Undoubtedly the wonders of the universe, conveyed 
through the medium of the external senses to our per- 
ceptive and reflective faculties, cannot fail to impress an 
intelligent being, gifted with the power of tracing the 
connexion between cause and effect, of the existence of 
an Almighty disposer of things, for since nothing can 
exist without a cause, and since nothing within the sphere 
of man's limited understanding could originate the 
meanest thing that lives, and since life could not be the 
result of chance, which is but an effect — a falling from 
God, it follows of necessity that there must exist some 
pure and wise Almighty Creator of all things, whose 
attributes are entirely beyond human comprehension. 

Hence it would appear that, through the operation of 
his understanding, man may obtain a reasonable con- 
viction of the existence of God. But that this is not 
the only mode, nor yet the most convincing through 
which a fervent belief in the existence of God and of his 
power is conveyed to the mind, will appear, when it is 
considered that fervency of faith is not in proportion to 
the amount of intellect which a man may possess. 

Do we not find men who in their writings have evinced 
extraordinary talents in a high degree sceptical in matters 
of faith. Few, indeed, if any have ever really done 
so, have presumed to doubt concerning the existence of 
the Deity, but many eminent persons have been reluctant 
to place implicit belief in the power attributed to him 
by the bulk of mankind, or rather in the exercise of it, 



246 VENERATION. 

as it was manifested in the incarnation, for the purpose 
of establishing the supremacy of religion and morality on 
earth. 

Others, on the contrary, who have enriched the 
domain of science and of literature, have shone amongst 
the most prominent advocates of the truth of revelation. 
Belief or disbelief in the miraculous doctrines of Chris- 
tianity cannot, therefore, be the result of intellectual 
calculation. Intellect is clearly an insufficient medium 
through which to discern its truthfulness. There must, 
then, be an internal sense or faculty which prompts 
mankind to believe instinctively in the supernatural, or 
in spiritual existencies, independent of any act of the 
understanding, although the understanding serves to 
regulate and restrain the intensity of the sentiment. 
Neither should active faith be looked upon as merely 
the result of an unreflecting and uneducated mind, for 
narrow-minded and untutored men are frequently found 
to be callous to the admonitions of spiritual instructors, 
while others of poor intellects are the first to imbibe 
and cherish a belief in those parts of revelation which 
the highest human intelligence is not capable of com- 
prehending. 

The last moments of some criminals afford a strong 
attestation of the first proposition. And some savage 
tribes, remarkable for inferiority of reasoning power, 
are yet strong in their religious belief — for religious it 
certainly is, though it takes the form of irrational super- 
stition. "Superstition," says Edmund Burke, "is the 
religion of feeble minds, and they must be tolerated in 
an intermixture of it, in some trifling or some enthusiastic 
shape or other, else you will deprive weak minds of a 
resource found necessarv to the strongest." 



VENERATION. 247 

It is clear, then, that religious sentiments are neither 
the offspring of vigorous nor of weak understandings. 
They must, therefore, arise from affections, the impulses of 
which are independent of intellect. What then is the 
nature of these affections ? 

Religion consists, chiefly, in obedience to the will of 
God, in a reliance on his promises, and in an unfeigned 
desire to imitate his goodness. But, since the feeling 
that prompts to obedience can give no intimation of the 
object to be obeyed, there is some other primitive faculty 
necessary besides veneration to enable us to form a 
conception of it. And, since the attributes of this omni- 
potent being are beyond the reach of man's limited 
powers of mere intellectual comprehension, adapted as 
as they are to sensible and material objects and to human 
thoughts and desires only, there must, necessarily, exist a 
special faculty to render us capable of having implicit 
credence in the existence of spiritual things, and of a 
mysterious omniscient Creator, who never had a beginning 
and is to exist eternally. This affection has been named 
the sense of the marvellous, or supernatural ; and also of 
the mysterious, and the wonderful. 

Religious faith, then, is a compound affection arising 
from the action of the sentiments of Marvellousness and 
Veneration, harmoniously blended with other affections, 
both moral and intellectual. The necessity for this union 
of qualities in the composition of a religious mind is 
not to be overlooked in forming a judgement of character 
on phrenological principles. For mere belief in the 
existence of spiritual things has not unfrequently been 
evinced by persons in no way remarkable for religious 
observances, while others have been characterized by 
reverential and obedient tendencies, whose minds were 



248 VENERATION. 

impervious to the light of Christianity ; so far, at least as 
its mysterious attributes are involved. 

Since, therefore, a fundamental faculty, which imparts a 
s ense of the marvellous, exists, there must be a particular 
part of the brain for its evolvement. Dr. Gall was the 
first to observe that persons disposed to have visions have 
a considerable enlargement of the superior lateral portion 
of the frontal bone, resembling the segment of a circle. 
He was far, however, from supposing that belief in the 
existence of a Supreme Being had any connection with this 
organ. Finding that the convolution was placed between 
those of Imitation and Ideality, he puts the following 
questions. u Does this convolution make part of the 
organ of Imitation, and does its excessive development 
exalt the talent for imitation^ so as to cause it to give to 
ideas of its own creation an external existence, and make 
them appear as if coming to us from without ? Or does 
this convolution at the same time make part both of poetry 
and imitation ? Or, in fine, does it constitute a particular 
organ ? This is what further researches alone will be able 
to decide. . . . As it is very possible that visions are- 
only the blended result of an exalted action of one of those 
two organs, or of the two together, I have not thought it 
necessary to consider it as a particular organ." 

These speculations have not been verified by the facts 
which have been collected since Gall's time. Indeed, it is 
no uncommon thing to meet with persons, who manifest 
great powers of imitation, and are yet by no means 
visionary. While, on the contrary, there are visionaries 
who evince but little proneness to mimicry. Moreover, 
the convolution above described bears no proportion to 
the extent of the imitative faculty ; while this power is 
always in accordance with the development of the 



VENERATION. 249 

convolution that lies between Benevolence and the organ 
of the sense of the Marvellous. 

It is highly probable that this part of the brain, as 
surmised by Gall, exercises much influence upon the 
organ of Imitation, as it certainly does upon that of 
Ideality or Poetry, as Gall calls it. But that is not the 
question I am now considering. My object is to show 
that there exists a sense of the marvellous and super- 
natural which is a fundamental, independent faculty or 
affection, and that its manifestation depends upon the 
condition of a part of the brain already described, which 
Doctor Gall always found largely developed in persons 
who fancied they held converse with supernatural or 
spiritual objects. Subsequent investigators have collected 
and recorded a vast amount of well-authenticated facts 
in corroboration of his discovery. 

It is obvious that a belief in visions and mysterious 
agencies must be a mode of action of the same faculty 
which prompts to belief in the existence of a Supreme 
Being, only that the former manifestation of it is the 
result of the morbid exaltation of the faculty, whilst the 
latter is its sublime and normal function. 

Having now taken a view of the combined influence 
of marvellousness and veneration upon the human charac- 
ter, it will be right, for the sake of clearness, to make 
some observations on the nature of each of them sepa- 
rately. 

Humility is one of the attributes of the faculty of 
Veneration, and how gratifying it is to the earnest dis- 
ciples of Gall to find that the portion of brain which is 
invariably found to be essential to the manifestation of 
that sentiment, should lie in harmonious contiguousness 
with the organ of Benevolence and Meekness. 



250 VENERATION. 

The admonition of Christ to his faithful followers — 
" Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart," was 
directly addressed to these two affections. " Humility," 
says St. Francis De Sales, " perfects us with respect to 
God, and meekness with regard to our neighbour." These 
two sentiments, sustained by abiding faith and lively 
hope, were the hallowed source of that meek fortitude 
and self-sacrificing resignation displayed by the early 
Christian martyrs. Indeed, in every relation of life these 
dispositions shed a halo of serenity and repose around 
the dark and stormy elements of disaster and of sorrow 
to which we are so often exposed. 

But, like every other faculty, the sentiment of Venera- 
tion may be abused, and its ill-directed energies may 
lead to much public and private misfortune. Would not 
unremitting attention to devotional exercise, for instance, 
be a grievous dereliction of duty in the mother of a young 
family ? whereas the greater part of her time should be 
occupied in sedulously attending to the genial and im- 
portant office which nature destined her to fulfil ? 

This feeling induces a reverence for ancient institu- 
tions and profound respect for those in authority. Hence 
it must be regarded as an important safeguard against 
ill-digested levelling principles of innovation, and a 
supporter of order and established government. On the 
other hand it is quite necessary that the political leanings 
of this sentiment should be carefully watched, lest its 
salutary tendencies degenerate into unmanly subserviency. 
The degrading doctrine of the divine right of kings to 
substitute their own wills for law, and the mean-spirited 
suggestions of that of passive obedience have had their 
chief support in the abused and corrupted energy of this 
faculty. Hence it has been the indirect abettor and 



VENERATION". 251 

encourager of tyranny and the enemy of every improve- 
ment which threatened to trench upon ancient usages 
(see Plates 1 & 3). 

How necessary it was, therefore, that mankind should 
j)ossess other faculties calculated to counteract the undue 
predominance of this. Those are Conscientiousness, 
Self-esteem, Love of Distinction, Firmness and Courage. 
It is worthy of remark that the organs of these powers, 
except the last mentioned, lie in the immediate vicinity 
of that of Veneration. They were placed there by the 
hand of the Creator and, probably, ordained by him to be, 
as it were, faithful sentinels at the portals of the temple 
of personal liberty, which the passive and unselfish nature 
of the other would unwittingly expose to the assaults of 
tyranny and the inroads of usurpation. 

The organs of the religious sentiments sometimes 
become diseased; and, strange to say, religious mania 
has been the cause of deeds, which it is the special object 
of religion to condemn. Even murder has been, occa- 
sionally, the result of morbidly excited devotional feeling, 
at one time for the honour of religion, at another for the 
insane purpose of benefitting the victim of this morbid 
sense of duty. 

Robert Deane was executed in London, many years 
ago, for the murder of a child to whom he was very much 
attached. His love for the child filled his mind with 
dismal forebodings as to her future prospects ; and, in 
order to remove her from the perils, to which he imagined 
she would be inevitably exposed in her progress through 
life, he formed the maniacal resolution to kill her ; since 
he was assured by an internal monitor that her innocence 
would open for her a passage to the mansions of eternal 
bliss. Before he committed the dreadful act he caressed 



252 VENERATION. 



fervently prayed to God in the poor babe's behalf. 

It may be proper to state that Deane was remarkable 
for a pious turn of mind ; that his behaviour was peaceable 
and becoming ; and that the form of his head was strongly 
indicative of his conduct and motives. The organ of 
Benevolence was full, that of Veneration large ; and the 
organ of Love of Offspring and of children in general 
remarkably developed. Conscientiousness, Hope, and 
Ideality were comparatively small ; and his intellectual 
organs were only moderate, while Destructiveness and the 
other animal organs were large. 

The next case is that of a lunatic seaman, named Welsh,, 
a patient at Haslar Hospital many years ago. This 
unhappy man had an unconquerable propensity to 
murder ; and he actually did murder two men. The 
organ of Veneration was very large in Welsh's head, 
and those of the animal propensities were also very 
protuberant, especially Destructiveness. One day this 
man asked Dr. James Scott's assistant, Dr. Patrick 
Marty n, whom he liked and had some confidence in, 
if he would let him into his neighbour's cell. And when 
asked what his object was, he said he wanted to kill him, 
because he abused Christ and the Virgin Mary. The 
young surgeon then asked, " Would you kill me." He 
said, " No, you are my friend. But I would kill even 
yourself if you were to say anything against Christ and 
the Virgin Mary." In this case, a naturally strong 
sentiment of devotion was seemingly the incentive to 
acts of violence and bloodshed in a lunatic whose mind- 
was disposed for the commission of such deeds. 

In every well-constituted mind the feeling of respect- 
fulness greatly enhances individual happiness, and adds 



VENERATION. 253 

to the delights of social intercourse. A man may love 
goodness and admire loveliness, be faithful in his attach- 
ments and assiduously attentive to the object of his 
affections, yet, if he be deficient in the sense of Respect- 
fulness, his love may sometimes wear the hue of selfishness 
and his tenderness lose its grace by being robed in the 
garb of condescension. There will be wanting that 
ic subordination of the heart " which never fails to inspire 
confidence and greatly to augment the value of kindness, 
Tby removing from its escutcheon every symbol of self- 
love. It imparts that degree of respect for the opinions 
of others, which is essential to the forming of just 
conclusions in regard to circumstances in which our own 
predilections might lead us, in its absence, to be unjustly 
dogmatical. Thus does this affection form one of the 
moral harbingers of peace, by directly serving to restrain 
those feelings, which are, in their nature opposed to 
conciliation. But, it must not be forgotten that when 
this sentiment is strong, and unaccompanied by an 
adequate endowment of Benevolence, Conscientiousness, 
and a proper sense of pride, while Acquisitiveness, 
■Secretiveness, and the lower propensities, generally, are 
active, much hypocritical reverence and time-serving 
adulation will form the prominent features of a character 
so constituted. Hence the necessity of carefully watch- 
ing the nascent tendencies of youth, so as to be enabled 
to curb the undue predominance of any faculty which 
might interfere with the harmonious working of all. 

In the cast from the head of Lord Chancellor Eldon, 
whose bigoted abhorrence of all political reformation was 
notorious, the organ of Veneration is exceedingly salient, 
while it is as remarkably hollow in the cast of William 
Godwin, the author of " Political Justice," a work which 



254 VENERATION. 

advocates political views of a diametrically opposite- 
nature. In the casts of Coleridge and Crabbe it is 
strikingly prominent, and in Sir Walter Scott's cast 
from nature this region of the head is of almost un- 
paralleled elevation (see Plates 1, 2, 3, & 16). It is 
depressed in Rammohun Roy, who., although a Brahmin, 
repudiated all veneration for the cherished creed of his 
ancestors, when he discerned the irrational and super- 
stitious nature of its dogmas and observances. Let the 
portraits of Gobinet (who was called, " Sorbonice gloria 
magna domus,") by Edelinck, and that of Fenelon, by 
Audran, be compared with the portrait of Cardinal De 
Retz, by Nanteuil, and the great disparity in the size 
of the organ of Veneration must strike the most careless 
observer. 

In the bald heads of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. 
Francis De Sales, the former engraved by Vosterman, 
the latter from a painting by Ant. Dieu, the organs of 
Veneration, Marvellousness, and Hope are very elevated, 
but the first is remarkably conspicuous in both of them.. 
In Loyola it stands out in a more isolated form. In 
De Sales it is blended rather more harmoniously with a 
remarkably large organ of Benevolence. In St. Charles 
and Frederic Borromeo a similar height of the same 
region of the head is conspicuous. The same part is 
remarkably large in Bishop Ridley, whose portrait is 
almost the only one of the eminent religious reformers 
that has been handed down to us without a covering on 
the head. Combined with indications of noble moral 
and intellectual qualities, the organ of Veneration is large 
in Melancthon. 

In a print by T. Smith, published in 1772, of " The 
Inspired Drum-major of the Northamptonshire Militia," 



VENEKATION. 255 

as he was seen preaching from some church pulpit, the 
organ of Veneration, and also those of Marvellousness 
and Hope, are extremely large. And to his well- 
developed forehead and very salient organ of Language, 
is to be attributed his tendency and ability to give vent 
to the ruling sentiments of his nature through the 
medium of eloquent and fervent preaching. It is inter- 
esting to contrast this with a portrait of Henry Rogers, 
a pewterer of Cornwall, who, to evade a process of 
Chancery, barricaded his house, and shot several men 
who accompanied the sheriff for the purpose of ejecting 
him, before they could effect an entrance. Shortly before 
he was hanged for these murders he attempted to kill 
the sheriff in prison, and said he would die happy if he 
had succeeded in the attempt. The account of him states 
that his religious instructor could not, in the least 
degree, affect " his brutal stupidity, and he went to 
the gallows without any remorse." This print was 
published in 1735. The head is very broad, and exces- 
sively low. It is even hollow in the region of Benevo- 
lence and Veneration, and Marvellousness is very small. 
The contrast between this head and that of St. Francis 
De Sales is remarkably striking. 

Veneration is an elementary faculty which is exclusively 
human, and its organ in the brain is, beyond any doubt, 
thoroughly established. 



FIftMNESS. 



The most careless observer of human conduct cannot fail 
to notice in some individuals a marked tenacity of purpose 
of which others are comparatively destitute. The affection 
from which springs this mental peculiarity is called 
Firmness. Its prevalence, under rational and moral 
restrictions, is of great importance both in private and in 
public life. Nations composed of men, who happen to be, 
in the main, amply endowed with this power, are remark- 
able for stedfastness and untiring perseverance in pursuit 
of whatever they may, collectively, deem of importance to 
the welfare of the people at large. But when once they 
have obtained the object of their wishes, nothing but the 
most overwhelming compulsion could force them to at- 
tempt the undoing of that which cost them such sacrifices 
to establish, and of the beneficial efficacy of which they 
still continue to entertain sanguine expectations. In 
politics, therefore, this faculty is of the utmost value. A 
people, in whose mental constitution firmness is found to 
be a characteristic ingredient, are not likely to be driven 
about by every "wind of doctrine." They may be sen- 
sible of the existence of blemishes which disfigure the 
fair features of the constitution ; they may long for the 
fulfilment of those theoretic visions of political purity and 
happiness, which would be the result of the active pre- 
dominance of the moral sentiments, but which they know 



FIRMNESS. 257 

■can never be realised, while selfishness continues to sway 
the motives of most of those men, whose talents, energies, 
and industry enable them to form the channels through 
which the current of popular opinions is accustomed to 
flow. They may be aware of these imperfections, but so 
long as firmness shall characterise a nation, the majority 
will lend an unwilling ear to the blandishments of elo- 
quence, should that most influential offspring of the high- 
est mental powers, harmoniously combined, be used for 
the purpose of effecting a sudden uprooting of long 
established institutions. Of course, caution and reflection, 
as well as veneration for old institutions, must also be 
national characteristics. But to support these Firmness is 
essential. 

Let us suppose that the inhabitants of two great 
countries are pretty equally endowed with intellectual 
and moral dispositions, but that^we find self-esteem and 
firmness characteristic of the one, while love of dis- 
tinction forms the most striking feature of the other. 
Let us further suppose that the institutions, by which 
each of them happens to be governed, partake of much 
that is erroneous in theory, and not a little that might be 
justly regarded as detrimental in practice, but which, 
nevertheless, are found, by experience, to possess a 
majority of qualities, which are fundamentally salutary, 
and, properly administered, calculated to conduce to the 
general weal. If, under such circumstances, men of 
great ambition, courage, and extraordinary talents, justly 
dissatisfied with the deteriorating influence of the un- 
sound parts of the political system, were to use the 
influence which eloquence is so well calculated to confer, 
for the purpose of summarily demolishing the old constitu- 
tional edifice, in order to raise upon a new foundation a 

u 



258 FIKMNESS. 

structure more suited, in all its compartments, to the 
individual taste of the new projector, which of the two 
nations would be most likely to become the prey of crude 
revolutionary doctrines ? Undoubtedly, the one in which 
love of glory, with comparatively little firmness, happens 
to be the paramount principle of action. For, the love 
of glory, when not kept in check by circumspection and 
firmness, delights in any new experiment that affords a 
prospect of its being sooner or later possessed of the 
objects of its insatiable longings. In such a case a strong 
sense of attachment and of reverence would enhance the 
effect of firmness. 

Fickleness of disposition must, then, be deemed a 
concomitant of exorbitant love of glory, with defective 
firmness and circumspection. A people, thus generally 
organized, would become willing instruments in the hands 
of some ambitious and commanding individual ; while a 
nation, in which the ardour of love of fame is mellowed 
by caution and firmness — the one by awakening reflection, 
the other by imparting fixedness of purpose — will always 
pause before embarking in perilous enterprises, and will 
rest content with a gradual and rational reformation of 
abuses. Such a people do not require a large standing 
army to keep them in order. 

Hence it may be inferred that firmness is of the 
utmost importance in every relation of life, and that it is 
a powerful auxiliary in maintaining the supremacy of the 
moral sentiments. But it must not be forgotten that it 
is, also, ready to subserve the interest of the selfish 
passions, should they happen to be the leading features 
of character. The position of the organ indicates its- 
liability to be acted upon by these antagonistic influences ; 
for it lies between the organs of Conscientiousness ; and 



FIRMNESS. 259 

it is bounded anteriorly by Veneration and posteriorly 
by Self-esteem. 

For instance, Firmness, with large Self-esteem and 
Love of Approbation, and with moderate Conscientiousness 
and Benevolence, produces obstinacy and a disinclination 
to acknowledge a fault or even a mere mistake. 

On the other hand, Veneration and Benevolence, 
unopposed by an adequate amount of Self-esteem, would 
prompt persons to pay too much deference to the opinions 
and wishes of others. Self-esteem, aided by some of the 
lower feelings, would lead to intolerance, if the influence 
of Benevolence and Veneration were weak. Conscientious- 
ness desires to hold the balance even between these 
opposing affections, and would naturally turn the scale in 
favour of the unselfish passions. But, even the sense of 
justice will, in trying and difficult positions, require the 
support of active firmness. 

In fine, firmness, when acting in unison with the 
moral sentiments, supports a dignified demeanour ; but, 
when bad passions predominate, an excessive development 
of the organ of Firmness renders these much more 
dangerous. Hence, firmness cannot be essentially a moral 
sentiment ; however powerful it is as a sustainer of noble 
characteristics. It appears to be a mental quality sui 
generis. 

This affection has been deemed synonymous with 
perseverance : but, although firmness supports the other 
powers in their efforts to persevere, especially under 
difficulties, still the power to persevere does not always 
depend upon firmness; for, whenever a combination of 
organs, necessary for the pursuit of any special art or 
science, is strongly developed, such organs, through an 
inherent power of their own, will be active and persevering 

U 2 



260 FIRMNESS. 

in their efforts to obtain a thorough knowledge of the 
objects which are appreciable by themselves alone. A 
man, for instance, who is endowed with musical faculties 
in an eminent degree, will persevere in such studies as 
are alone capable of enabling him to 'gratify his love for 
music. There have been some great musical composers, 
who were not all remarkable for firmness of character. 
Yet, surely, their eminent proficiency in the art of music 
could not be attained without great perseverance. He 
that possesses genius for painting or sculpture will 
persevere in his efforts to gain a mastery over the 
difficulties of these fine arts ; but yet, as a man, he may 
want firmness of character. The late Benjamin West, 
President of the Royal Academy, may be brought forward 
as a case in point. His long life was exclusively and 
perseveringly devoted to the art of painting; and yet 
he was wanting in firmness of character. And, accord- 
ingly we find that in the cast of his head, taken after 
death, the organ of Firmness is small, while the organs 
of the faculties which constitute a talent for painting 
were large. With what perseverance did Flaxman 
cultivate his great genius for sculpture, and yet Flaxman 
was more gentle and yielding than firm and determined. 
And in his bust, also, this organ was but moderately 
developed. 

The more dominant the faculty the more inclined it 
is to persevere for the sake of its own gratification. The 
thief will persevere in robbing for the gratification of 
acquisitiveness ; the sensualist, disregarding the decencies 
of life, will persevere in the indulgence of the lower 
propensities ; while the individual, in whom the organ of 
Benevolence is very large, will persevere in the per- 
formance of acts of charity. 



FIRMNESS. 261 

Nevertheless, though firmness is not, in this point 
of view, essential to the existence of the persevering 
quality, it is indispensable as an instinctive imparter 
of power to persevere in resisting the gratification of 
dominant tendencies, which reason and the moral sense 
would condemn. Had the unhappy Dr. Dodd had some 
firmness of character, he might have been enabled to per- 
severe in curbing the impulses which hurried him on 
perseveringly in his incautious and culpable career. 

That firmness is a fundamental power of the mind 
there cannot be a doubt. It is not merely the result of 
courage, though courage enables one to show firmness. 
But a man may be very courageous and yet vacillating 
and unstable, or he may be immovably firm and wanting 
in courage. Dr. Dodd possessed courage amounting to 
recklessness in pursuit of his pleasures, but he was 
lamentably deficient in firmness (see Plate 9). 

Since firmness, then, is a primitive affection, it must 
have a certain part of the brain for its manifestation. 
The relative position of its organ has been already 
described. When large, the posterior part of the top of 
the head is remarkably elevated. The action of the head 
is stiff and constrained, and even the body evinces, in 
all its motions, an ungraceful inflexibility. 

The organ of Firmness is very large in the cast of 
the late Richard Carlile, the bookseller of Fleet Street. 
This man suffered more than six years' imprisonment for 
his infidel publications, rather than promise to desist 
from such practices upon his being liberated. At length 
Government, without any stipulation, discharged him. 
But he soon resumed his old conduct more daringly than 
ever. He even went so far as to remove his first-floor 
window sashes, and suspended in one of the windows 



262 FIRMNESS. 

the effigy of a bishop of the Church of England, and in 
the other the black figure of Satan. He was again 
prosecuted for this outrage upon the religious sentiments 
of Christendom, and committed to gaol, whence he was 
discharged after nearly four years' confinement, but 
without his apologising or retracting in the least degree 
(see Plate 3). His associate, Robert Taylor, who was 
imprisoned at the same time, was so far wanting in 
firmness to bear the privations attached to prison dis- 
cipline, that his mind for a moment lost its balance, 
and in a fit of frenzy he attempted to kill the sheriff. 
But nothing could subdue the imperturbable firmness of 
Carlile. The organ of Firmness was moderate in the 
head of Taylor. In the scull of Humphrey, Duke of 
Gloucester, this part of the head is very large, and, 
according to the records of history, his firmness sometimes 
amounted to unwise pertinacity, notwithstanding the 
superiority of his understanding and his nobleness of 
character. In the scull of King Edward the Second 
the organ is rather small, and certainly, though not 
wanting in courage he was the victim of irresolution. 
Want of firmness and intellectual indolence exposed him 
to the loss of his throne and life. While the powerful 
and active intellect of Humphrey, and his impetuous 
determined character, rendered him an object of dread 
to his enemies, whose persecutions were at length fatal 
to him (see Plate 5). 

In the portraits of Charles the Twelfth, Wallenstein, 
and Suwarrow, firmness is remarkably large. It is rela- 
tively small in Sir Kenelm Digby, a man of great 
mental endowments, and great personal courage, but 
wanting in firmness. It is moderate in the cast from 
nature of the painter Fuseli, and in West, as has been 



FIRMNESS. 263 

already noticed, it is rather small. In Stubbs, the animal 
painter, the organ is very large. It is moderate in the 
scull of Robert Burns. In Swift's it is proportionately 
much larger. It is large in the head of William Godwin 
and moderate in Wordsworth, and in the head of 
B. R. Haydon, the painter, the organ of Firmness was 
very poorly developed. In this region, the head of Sir 
Walter Scott was very high, but in him it was united 
with such an assemblage of nobly-developed moral organs 
as would deprive it of characteristic supremacy. The 
same part is very prominent in Cooper, the young high- 
wayman of Hornsey, whose firmness of character was 
not to be subdued ; and very small in the culprit Corder, 
whose indecision was strikingly manifested. 

It may be interesting to add a few instances in cor- 
roboration of these, taken from the remains of ancient 
sculpture. In the busts of the two Cato's this organ is 
very salient. But in the elder it is accompanied by 
greater Self-esteem and Love of Approbation. Though 
well-developed in the magnanimous Scipio Affricanus, 
still, owing to the superior development of the organs of 
Veneration and Benevolence in his head, it is not by any 
means so prominent as it is in the bust of the iron-willed 
Cato the censor, the implacable persecutor of his family. 
In Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa it was large. It was 
moderate in his brave but less decided opponent Sextus 
Pompey. In the great Trajan this organ is large. It 
is small in the amiable and well-intentioned but irresolute 
Alexander Severus. Firmness, backed by strongly marked 
Self-esteem, is a salient and characteristic feature in the 
head of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, whilst 
a moderate development of the same organs is strikingly 
manifest in the fine antique bust of the wise poet 



264 FIKMNESS. 

Horace, the genial and social asserter and practiser of 
the doctrines of Epicurus. And it is an interesting and 
instructive fact that the same region of the head is but 
moderately developed in the best coins of his friend and 
patron Mecenas, whose disposition in this respect really 
harmonised with his own. And . the difference between 
the characters of the rugged and stern Cato, the censor, 
and Mecenas, a man distinguished for his love of social 
ease and refinement of manners, even savouring of Epicu- 
rean effeminacy, is strikingly indicated by the moderate 
development of the organ of Firmness in the wise and 
politic counsellor of Augustus, and its protuberant saliency 
in the head of the great and uncompromising prop of the 
early republic. 

The existence and local position of the organ of Firm- 
ness are facts of which there does not exist the slightest 
doubt. 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS -SENSE OF 
JUSTICE. 



On each side of the organ of Firmness and between it 
and Cautiousness there is a part of the brain which bears 
no fixed proportion, as to size, to either of these organs. 
It is sometimes large and elevated, when either one or 
both of them may be relatively depressed, or it may be 
small and depressed, while the others are salient. Of the 
former state of things the cast of the head of Dr. Gall 
himself is a notable instance ; the head of Dr. William 
Dodd, affords a striking specimen of the latter (see 
Plate 9). 

Gall did not seem prepared to associate this part of the 
head with any special function. But, as it bears no 
regular proportion in regard to magnitude to the parts 
surrounding it, it cannot be supposed to share in the 
manifestation of any of the affections of which those 
parts are proved to be, beyond all reasonable controversy, 
the true material exponents. In course of time Spurzheim 
found that this part of the top of the head was always 
large in persons who had the reputation of being just in 
their dealings, while it was small in thieves, and in people 
of bad character, who did not feel the injustice of their 
conduct ; and, after satisfying himself by reasoning that 
the sense of justice is a primitive sentiment, he named 
that part the organ of Conscientiousness. 



266 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

Gall did not see any necessity for this new organ. He 
considered Conscience, or the moral sense, to be the 
primitive function of the organ of Benevolence, of which 
he thought charity and sympathy to be more impassioned 
modes of action. Spurzheim, on the contrary, argued 
thrt the sense of justice was a primitive faculty, distinct 
from benevolence. 

It is true that the moral sense or the love of justice, 
taken in its most comprehensive signification, cannot be 
manifested without benevolence. But the abstract sense 
of justice does not appear to originate in the same source. 
On the contrary, the gentle voice of charity has frequently 
been hushed by the stern mandate of conscientiousness ; 
and, mercy, the most divine of human attributes, is known 
to exert its power in mollifying the harshness of retribu- 
tive justice. 

Do we not, in our course through life, meet with men 
of the strictest integrity in all their dealings, who, 
nevertheless, fall short of that true disinterestedness 
which always characterizes the man in whom benevolence 
predominates ? Indeed, the steady face of justice is 
sometimes tinged with the unwholesome hues of selfishness. 
Do we not find some individuals strictly upright in con- 
ducting the affairs of others, whose judicial vision would 
become obscured, in respect to impartial justice, should 
their own personal interests be implicated in the adjust- 
ment ? Yet the sense of justice holds in check the 
promptings of self-esteem and ambition, and thus becomes 
a powerful barrier against the inroads which the lowest 
propensities are by nature striving to make upon the fair 
domain of the noblest affections of our nature. 

There can be no doubt of the existence of a primitive 
faculty which causes a desire for justice. But will this 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 267 

instinct of justice or conscientiousness of itself produce 
that upright abandonment of exclusive self-interest, 
without which act, justice, in its most comprehensive 
sense, cannot exist ? It is not likely that it can. For 
instance, the avaricious and selfish man, in phrenological 
phrase, the man endowed with large Acquisitiveness and 
Self-esteem, may also be imbued with a strong sense 
of justice ; but yet his views, with regard to justice, 
as it should subsist between himself and others, would 
be different from his, who has large Benevolence and 
Conscientiousness with small Acquisitiveness and moderate 
Self-esteem. 

The infidel who possesses a strong sense of justice and 
great self-esteem ridicules as fools or denounces as knaves 
those who confide in the truth of revelation. And he 
feels that it would be an act of justice to the community 
of which he is a member to tear away by the roots the 
stock upon which the fair blossoms of hope in a future 
existence, where sorrow can find no entrance, are by the 
eye of Faith seen to flourish. But sophistry and 
eloquence, however plausible, can never eradicate faculties 
which were, even in the beginning, implanted in the 
mind of man by the will of a beneficent Creator. 

If the unbeliever, instead of deriving his opinions from 
the dictates of his own instinctive consciousness, were 
to look abroad and examine the peculiarities of other 
men's minds and search for the true foundations of those 
idiosyncracies, he would soon find that the seeds from 
which they sprang were sown by Nature's hand (see 
Plates 1 & 3). 

But how can he who has been taught to think that all 
our affections, both moral, religious, and intellectual, are 
the result of imitation, habit, and external circumstances, 



268 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

bring himself to believe that others are naturally endowed. 
with dispositions which have been in a special manner 
denied to himself? Hence arises his incredulity as to- 
the religious sincerity of some, and his considerate pity 
for the superstitious thraldom which he thinks deprives 
others of all freedom of thought. Convinced of the recti- 
tude of his opinions, his Conscientiousness urges him, 
even though he should become a martyr in the cause, to 
use all his energies in the vain expectation of eradicating 
distinct and inherent attributes of the human mind. 

The head of Eichard Carlile, late of Fleet Street, who 
has been noticed already under the head of Firmness as 
a publisher of Deistical books, was strikingly illustrative 
of these mental characteristics, for in the original cast of 
his head the organs of Firmness, Self-esteem, and Con- 
scientiousness are extremely protuberant, while those of 
Supernaturality and Veneration are small. And though 
the forehead was a well-developed one, it was com- 
paratively wanting in those distinctive marks of intel- 
lectual reflectiveness and comprehensive deliberation which 
might have served to restrain the impetuous promptings 
of large organs of Combativeness and Destructiveness 
(see Plate 3). 

Here, then, it is evident that strong conscientious 
feelings will sometimes urge a man to attempt that which 
would be manifestly unjust when those affections which 
form the principle ingredients of the character he judges 
are denied to himself. 

Surely this leads to the conclusion that real and impar- 
tial justice must be the result of a combination of faculties 
acting in harmony with each other, and that it is not 
the effect of the action of the simple faculty of conscien- 
tiousness alone. In such a combination benevolence must 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 269 

hold a conspicuous position, for it is an essential ingredient 
of justice. 

Is the sense of justice, then, a mode of action of the 
organ of Benevolence? Such does not seem to be the 
case, for in some instances where it becomes necessary 
to minister to the dictates of the former sentiment, mercy, 
the offspring of the latter, becomes painfully affected, 
and feels a delightful emotion should any circumstances 
arise to mitigate the severity of justice. Some men, 
as has been shewn in the chapter on Benevolence, have 
committed robbery and even murder to gratify a morbid 
craving to satisfy benevolent desires. Haggart, the 
robber of Edinburgh, clothed destitute and abandoned 
creatures with the goods which he stole from shops and 
warehouses. Cooper, the highwayman of Hornsey, used 
to divide the money he got on the road amongst needy 
companions. In the casts of these men the organ of 
Benevolence is large, while that of Conscientiousness is 
but poorly developed, especially in Haggart. 

If Grail be right in supposing that the moral sense or 
conscientiousness is the result of benevolence, acting in 
its least excited condition, and bearing the same propor- 
tion to compassion as a moderate wish to acquire property 
does to the propensity to rob, how comes it that severe 
retributive justice is a painful necessity to a judge in 
whose character benevolence is the leading attribute? 
And how is it that a judge with little benevolence in 
his nature would, in the like circumstances, feel not the 
least regret ? If the sense of justice be simply a mode 
of action of the organ of Benevolence this could not 
happen, since, according to a general law, the larger 
the organ the more stern and exacting it would be in 
seeing retributive justice executed. Compassion, charity, 



270 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

mercy, and forgiveness of temper are, on the contrary, 
the benign attributes of a predominant organ of Benevo- 
lence, and not retributive justice. Forgive your enemies, 
and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you, 
were injunctions directly addressed to benevolence, and 
not to the sense of justice. But yet sympathy for those 
that are suffering or oppressed is a powerful incentive to 
the energetic passions to inflict retributive justice on 
wrong-doers. Still the pleasure afforded by retaliation 
is not the attribute of benevolence, nor can it rejoice in 
the punishment which its own painful sympathy for the 
oppressed caused other dispositions to inflict. But to 
the simple sense of justice without the admixture of com- 
passion, such retribution gives satisfaction. Do unto 
others as others do unto you, is a maxim of the sense of 
justice, swathed in the dusky robes of selfishness. Do 
unto others as you would wish others to do unto you, is 
instigated by strict mibiassed conscientiousness. Forgive 
your enemies is the instinctive prompting of the almost 
divine inward monitor, benevolence. The demand of 
an eye for an eye was the suggestion of the sense of 
justice in a selfish garb. If a man smite you on one 
cheek turn to him the other was the teaching of benevo- 
lence. 

Indeed, it seems perfectly clear that the simple sense 
of Justice or Conscientiousness, as Spurzheim has named 
the faculty, is not a mode of action or a quality of 
benevolence. But, at the same time, the mere desire for 
justice as a fundamental affection does not of itself 
insure justice in action, for righteous conduct is the 
result of the harmonious blending of the sense of justice 
with all the higher qualities of man's nature, amongst 
which benevolence holds the loftiest position. 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 271 

" And earthly power doth then shew likest God's, 
When mercy seasons justice." 

But to discern what is just, reason is an indispensable 
auxiliary". 

Dr. Gall himself was the great observer who first 
pointed out the organ of Benevolence in gentle, docile 
animals, and its comparative absence in those that are 
naturally cruel and indocile. I have closely examined 
hundreds of animals which prove this to be an invariable 
occurrence. But it does not seem probable (although 
Dr. Gall thinks the contrary to be the case) that any 
of the inferior animals ever exhibited in their conduct 
any trace of a sense of justice. The instinctive sense of 
justice cannot, therefore, be a mode of action of the organ 
of Benevolence, although benevolence is a noble element 
in the constitution of justice itself. 

An unconquerable love of retributive justice prompted 
Lucius Junius Brutus to stifle the breathings of kindli- 
ness and silence the latent whisperings of parental love 
when, as it is written, he consigned his own sons to an 
ignominious death for having betrayed the cause of 
freedom. Marcus Brutus tore from his bosom the ties 
of friendship and gratitude by which he was in duty bound 
to Caesar, to do what he concieved to be an act of justice 
to his country. But this impulse to justice could not 
have originated in Benevolence, for benevolence is the 
soul of gratitude. Brutus repudiated gratitude. His 
sense of justice could not, therefore, have sprung from 
Benevolence, for an organ cannot be active and inactive 
at the same time. Manlius Torquatus doubtless felt that 
he was obeying the stern dictates of conscientiousness 
when he condemned his own son to death for disobedience 
of military orders, at the moment when the gallant hero 



272 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

was laying at his father's feet the spoils of his vanquished 
foe. Surely clemency, the benign offspring of benevo- 
lence, could have had no share in such an act as this. 
But howsoever barbarous and shocking his conduct, 
Manlius was actuated solely by a sense of justice. This 
cannot then be "deemed a quality or modification of the 
sentiment of benevolence. 

As some eminent modern historians have thrown 
doubts upon the truth of this ancient legend of Manlius 
Torquatus, I shall narrate a case which is equally 
illustrative of the point I am now endeavouring to clear 
up. It is one of the most remarkable instances of in- 
flexible justice that has ever been recorded by the pen of 
a historian. It occurred in the town of Galway in the 
year 1493, and is told by an esteemed friend of my own, 
the late James Hardiman, in his excellent history of 
that place. The story has since been dramatised by 
the Eeverend Mr. Groves, and called the " Warden 
of Galway." 

Walter Lynch, the only son of James Lynch Fitz- 
Stephen, who was mayor of Galway in that year, murdered 
in a fit of jealousy a young Spanish gentleman named 
Gomez, whose father was a rich merchant of Cadiz. And 
his crime was aggravated by the fact that the unhappy 
victim of his rage was then on a visit at the house of the 
elder Lynch, between whom and the Spanish merchant 
an intimate friendship had for some time subsisted. The 
unfortunate perpetrator of this barbarous act soon repented 
of his crime, and next day delivered himself up to justice. 
He was tried, convicted, and received sentence of death 
from the mouth of his afflicted father. 

" Within the short compass of a few days," says 
Hardiman, " a small town in the west of Ireland, with 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 273 

a population at the time of little more than three thousand 
persons, beheld a sight of which but one or two similar 
examples occur in the entire history of mankind — a father 
sitting in judgment, like another Lucius Junius Brutus, 
on his only son, and like him, too, condemning that son 
to die as a sacrifice to public justice." . . . "On his 
conviction," continues the historian, " the mayor was 
waited upon by persons of the first rank and influence in 
town, and solicited to consent to a reprieve. His relations 
.and friends joined in earnest entreaty, beseeching that his 
blood might not be shed, but the inflexibility of the judge 
resisted the supplication, and he was inexorable." . . . 
" He himself descended at night to the dungeon where 
his son lay." ... " He entered holding a lamp, and 
accompanied by a priest (from whom the account was 
received), and locking the gate, kept fast the keys in 
his hands, and seated himself in a recess of the wall. 
His son drew near, and with a faltering tongue asked if 
he had anything to hope, he answered, "No, my son, 
your life is forfeited to the laws, and at sunrise you 
must die. I have prayed for your prosperity, but that 
is at an end — with the world you have done for ever. 
Were any other but your wretched father your judge, 
I might have dropped a tear over my child's misfortune, 
and solicited for his life, even though stained with 
murder, but you must die ; these are the last drops 
which shall quench the sparks of nature, and if you 
dare hope, implore that Heaven may not shut the gates 
of mercy on the destroyer of his fellow-creature. I am 
now come to join with this good man in petitioning 
Grod to give you such composure as will enable you to 
meet your punishment with becoming resignation." 

It was scarcely day when the expected summons to 

x 



274 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

prepare was given ; but finding it impossible to proceed 
to the usual place of execution, at the eastern extremity 
of the town (so violent were the threats of the populace, 
and so determined were they upon rescuing the unhappy 
culprit) that this virtuous and extraordinary man was 
driven to the dreadful alternative of executing his 
wretched son with his own hands. This he performed 
by suspending him from one of the windows of his own 
house, which happened to be contiguous to the prison. 

The account states, "The innocent cause of this 
lamentable tragedy is said to have died of grief, and the 
father of her lover to have secluded himself from society 
for the remainder of his days, never having been seen 
again, except by his mourning family." 

"Opinions," says Mr. Hardiman, "may no doubt be 
divided as to the cruelty or humanity of the father ; but 
few will question the integrity of the judge, or the equity 
of the sentence." 

That a primitive sentiment exists, which gives an 
instinctive love of justice, cannot be doubted ; but, that 
it is not a mode of action of the organ of Benevolence, 
as Gall supposed, has I trust, been satisfactorily shewn. 
The local position of its organ has been found by Spurzheim 
to lie between the organs of Firmness and Caution ; and 
the truth of his discovery is confirmed by a vast number 
of incontrovertible facts. 

In all those criminals, whose conduct was singularly 
remarkable for the absence of a sense of justice, this part 
of the head is very much depressed. In Steventon, for 
instance, who robbed and murdered an old woman on 
the high road, near Hereford, and was not sensible of his 
having done wrong, this organ was remarkably deficient. 
It is very small in Delahunt of Dublin, who coaxed a 



CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 275 

child to a retired spot in the suburbs, and there cut its 
throat. He then proceeded to the Castle and gave 
information to the police that he had seen a child 
murdered by its own mother. He described the poor 
woman accurately, for she was a neighbour of his own, 
in Francis Street. Upon enquiring the police found that 
the mother was then, and had been for some time, a 
patient in Jervis Street Hospital. The wicked informer 
was detained, and very soon a woman came forward to 
say that as she was passing through an adjoining field 
she saw a young man cut the throat of a child, as pork- 
butchers kill pigs, and then fling him away from him, 
seemingly to escape getting blood upon his clothes ; and 
she identified Delahunt as the man. Others proved that 
they had seen him, a short time before, giving cakes to 
this child, who knew Delahunt ; and thus was the innocent 
victim induced to take a walk with this atrocious criminal. 
In short, the evidence was conclusive against him, and 
in three weeks he was hanged. He acknowledged his 
guilt ; and said his motive for killing the child was not 
for any pleasure that the cruel act afforded him, but to 
have good ground for information against some one, in 
order to get into the pay of the police, and to be well fed 
at the Castle Station, as an informer. 

So little was this culprit affected by any feeling of 
remorse, and so great was the quantity of food he de- 
voured during his imprisonment, that, from being a thin, 
spare youth up to the time of his condemnation, he appeared 
remarkably fat upon the scaffold three weeks after. 

The whole moral portion of this man's head is very 
poorly developed ; but the organ of Conscientiousness is 
much smaller even than that of Benevolence. It is, as it 
were, scooped out. A like deficiency of this organ is 

x 2 



276 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 

very marked in the casts of Bishop and Williams, who 
murdered many persons for the purpose of selling their 
bodies for dissection. In the notorious Greenacre the 
deficiency in this organ is very great. 

Such is invariably the characteristic form of the heads 
of criminals. On the contrary, the same part of the head 
is very full and elevated in those who have been 
remarkable for the strict intregrity of their motives. 
In the lofty head of Sir Walter Scott this organ is very 
large, and in that of the good Canova. In the fine head 
of Gall himself the organ of the Sense of Justice is 
remarkably protuberant ; and his career through life has 
proved him to be a man of scrupulous integrity in all 
his actions. Let these casts be compared with that of 
the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, and what a contrast is pre- 
sented to the observer ; for the same part of the head 
is poorly developed in him, and for this want, a good 
fund of natural generosity was incapable of affording 
compensation. He was reckless, not for want of experi- 
ence and reflective power, but from lack of caution, the 
organ of which is very small. He was wanting in strict 
integrity, not because he was deficient in generosity and 
benevolence, but because the organ of the Sense of Justice 
was ill-developed. He was the yielding victim of vicious 
and unruly passions on account of the smallness of the 
organs of Firmness and Conscientiousness, and the re- 
markable largeness of those of the sensual propensities. 
It would be tedious to accumulate evidence in conformation 
of the existence and seat of this organ, which is wisely 
placed against the inroads of the selfish passions upon the 
fair domain of the moral sentiments. 



HOPE 



Hope is a faculty which exercises so much influence over 
our modes of thinking and of acting that it is of impor- 
tance to find out "whether it be a primitive sentiment 
or a mode of action of other powers, since its inde- 
pendent existence would render the presence of a part of 
the brain capable of manifesting it a matter of course. 
And, should the place of the organ be correctly defined, 
we could predicate with far more precision the degree 
of enterprise and sustained energy by which an indivi- 
dual would be actuated, than by considering hope to be 
merely a mode of action of other powers. 

In the practical application of Phrenology it is of much 
value to know how far children are endowed with this 
attribute, since it is its nature to inspire confidence in 
the success of their endeavours. And we all know how 
powerfully unclouded anticipations of success contribute 
to invigorate the understanding, by removing that timidity 
which has, unhappily, too often tended to paralyse the 
efforts of superior intellectual powers. 

Spurzheim thought that hope was a primitive senti- 
ment, distinct in its nature from any other, and felt 
convinced that its organ would be found to lie on each 
side of the organ of Veneration. Gall, on the contrary, 
argued that hope was an affection of other powers, and 



278 HOPE. 

consequently supposed that it was wrong to imagine that 
a separate organ of Hope could have an existence. 

Before entering upon a notice of the views of the 
distinguished founder of Phrenology, or the true phy- 
siology of the brain, it may be well to state that, with 
hardly an exception, phrenologists have acceded to 
Spurzheim's opinion. But in matters connected with 
science no man should be led away by the views of a 
majority, since the only source of truth and corrective 
of error is to be found in the facts which nature has so 
liberally supplied for our investigation — facts clear 
enough and demonstrable, but yet not so palpable as 
that "those who run may read." And here the necessity 
for caution is enhanced by the thought that one of the 
most scrupulous and accurate observers of facts that 
ever lived, namely, Dr. Grail himself, denied the existence 
of an organ of Hope. But then, in this case, he did not 
look for an organ because he had previously convinced 
himself by reasoning that hope did not exist as a separate 
elementary sentiment or faculty, and that it was nothing 
more than an affection of other powers, the organs of 
which were then in a passive state. He says, " There 
cannot be a particular organ for joy, or sadness, or 
despair, or discouragement, or hope, or any affection 
whatever." Before going further it were well to give 
Gall's ideas as to the proximate cause of the affections, 
and the line of distinction which he draws between them 
and the passions. He says, " By passion I mean the 
highest degree of voluntary and involuntary activity of 
which any fundamental power is susceptible. Each 
passion supposes a particular organ which produces 
passion as its function, only when in its maximum of 
activity. It is altogether different with the affections. 



HOPE. 279 

In the passions the organs are active, exalted in their 
fundamental function. In the affections, on the contrary, 
the organs are passive; they are modified, struck in a 
particular manner, agreeably or disagreeably. Modesty, 
terror, anguish, sadness, despair, jealousy, anger, joy, 
ecstacy, etc., are involuntary sensations, passive emotions, 
either of a single organ, or of the entire brain." 

Nothing can be better than the above definition of 
passion ; but, surely Gall was wrong in excluding terror, 
jealousy, and anger, from the category of the passions. 
Admitting them to be the result of mixed affections, it 
is unreasonable to think that the portions of the brain 
connected with the presence of these emotions, are passive 
or, in other words, in an inactive state. Terror, for 
instance, is a disagreeable affection of the organ of 
Cautiousness when it is excited to the highest pitch of 
activity. Anger is the immediate result of highly 
provoked organs of Combativeness and Destructiveness 
in a state of intense action. Jealousy is, in some cases, 
the offspring of unrequited attachment, where reciprocal 
love might justly be expected, and of wounded Love of 
Approbation and Self-esteem, together with a tendency 
to view things through a gloomy medium. Now, surely, 
warm attachment cannot exist without certain organs of 
the brain being in a state of activity ; nor can wounded 
self-love be consistent with an inactive condition of the 
organ of that feeling. Nor does it seem at all probable 
that a suspicious and desponding bias can arise if 
some parts of the brain be not in an active state, while 
the organs of the faculties, which are capable of resisting 
this unhappy tendency, are in, at least, a comparatively 
inactive condition. If, for instance, a man be ambitious of 
distinction and power, it is the result of active organs of 



280 HOPE. 

Love of Approbation and Self-esteem. Should a rival make 
his appearance, he is likely to become jealous ; suspicion is 
a dominant ingredient of jealousy ; and, as suspicion is 
the result of a highly excited organ of Cautiousness with 
deficient hopefulness, jealousy cannot be the result of a 
passive state of all the organs of the faculties which form 
the ingredients of that affection. Not only, indeed, is 
terror an active affection, it is also the instigator of other 
passions ; and has thus been productive of great calamity, 
whenever nations have become subject to suspicions 
tyrants. 

It is hard to imagine how any affection of the mind 
either mixed or simple, can be manifested, unless there be, 
at the same time, one or more organs of the brain in an 
active state, while some others are inactive. Modesty, 
for instance, which Gall numbers among the passive 
affections, is not the result of the inactivity of a single 
organ, or of the whole brain. On the contrary, it is the 
offspring of large and active organs of Caution and Love 
of Approbation, with relatively small organs of Com- 
bativeness, Self-esteem, and Firmness, while those of 
Respectfulness and Benevolence are large. Mental 
affections are the result of the action of objects and 
occurrences from without upon organs of the brain, 
through the conducting agency of the external senses^ 
in the first instance, and are again revived by the 
seemingly mysterious operations of memory. All this 
consists of action. Would it not be to ignore a law of 
physiology to think that any mental affection whatever 
could exist without the agency of the brain ; although,, 
like joy, it needs no special organ to produce it ? 

Dr. Gall says, " There cannot be a particular organ for 
joy, or sadness, or despair, or discouragement or hope, or 



HOPE. 281 

any affection whatever." I have already endeavoured to 
shew that compound affections are the result of the 
workings of a number of organs in a state of action, while 
the organs of those emotions, corrective of such affections, 
are in a state of repose. Joy, on the contrary, is simple 
in its nature, and Grail is right in supposing that there 
can be no special organ for joy. Joy is a sensation 
experienced through any organ, while its functions are 
being gratified. Even through the organ of Caution one 
would be joyfully affected on being released from fear of 
danger. But the emotion of joy cannot voluntarily be 
revived ; for it is a passive affection, while the renewal 
of hope is a charming and invigorating operation of 
volition, and is therefore an active affection. 

Tried by this test, it will be seen that hope ought not 
to be placed in the same category with joy, exstacy, etc., 
and that so far from its being an affection of different 
powers, it is a faculty sui generis. 

Hope has by some been considered a modification of 
desire. I have heard it called an excess of desire. And 
Spurzheim thought that Gall confounded hope with desire 
or want. But, so far as I know, Gall nowhere expresses 
himself to that effect. For, in his reflections on Will he 
says, " The desires, propensities, and passions are the 
results of the actions of isolated fundamental powers." 
He also says that what authors term "the feeling of 
desire " is the impulse that results from the activity of a 
single organ. But it has been just shown that he con- 
sidered hope an affection and not a passion, and since he 
thinks that desire becomes passion when an organ is in a 
state of the greatest activity, it would be inconsistent in 
him to suppose that hope was any modification of desire. 
I feel perfectly assured that Gall never entertained such 



282 HOPE. 

an opinion, since he thought that hope was an affection 
of an organ in a passive condition. 

But if it has been satisfactorily shown that anger, 
jealousy, and terror, are states of mind which result from 
the active condition of certain organs in the brain, there 
cannot be a doubt that hope, also, must be the result of 
the function of some part of the brain in an active state. 

Is hope, then, a form of desire ? Such cannot be the 
case, for since every faculty in a very active state desires, 
if hope be a modification of desire, every faculty when 
excited must hope But surely hope cannot be a quality 
of the organ of Caution. 

Place an individual in whose disposition caution is the 
dominant faculty in a situation of peril, and he becomes 
alarmed; in proportion to the magnitude of the danger 
will be the desire of avoiding it. And suppose he finds 
every avenue of escape barred against him, will not his 
dominant cautiousness render him still more desirous of 
escaping ? And when desire suggested by caution is thus 
at its height he may cast some anxious glances around 
for a place of shelter, but the fair form of hope nowhere 
meets his eye. It is not possible that Hope which is so 
fascinating and attractive even when its promises are 
delusive, could ever emanate from that part of the brain 
wherein is engendered fear, which is so appalling and 
repulsive. There can be no relationship between them. 
They are altogether of a different stock. 

Indeed, it is certain that desire the most ardent may 
possess the mind even when hope has been abandoned. 
A man becomes enamoured of a beautiful woman whose 
mental accomplishments and moral worth ennoble all her 
actions. He desires to be the happy partner of so much 
beauty and goodness, but he finds that her station in 



HOPE. 283 

society is so far above the path in which he has been 
destined to move, that his hope of being ever able to 
obtain the object of his pure yet ardent desire must 
necessarily be weak. Or suppose their rank in life to be 
equal, he finds that her affections have been bestowed 
upon another, his desire becomes hopeless, melancholy 
flings her dismal shroud over his bright but visionary 
aspirations, he abandons hope, but still clings with mad 
fidelity to the desire which may ultimately cause the 
bereavement of his senses. How often has suicide been 
the result of this hopeless desire. Or one may see the 
object of his warmest attachment passing away like a 
shadow from this earthly scene of mingled happiness and 
sorrow. All hope of recovery has fled, but yet the desire 
is no less ardent that the impending calamity might, if 
possible, be averted. 

It has been said that the increasing probability of the 
success of desire is the source of hope. Such a prospect 
cheers and encourages hope, but does not constitute it. 
And the nearer we approach the fulfilment of our desires 
the less need there is of hope ; when certainty makes its 
appearance hope vanishes. 

It is obvious, then, that hope is essentially different 
from desire. Nevertheless, desire stimulates hope, and 
hope has been styled the " nurse of young desire." 

There cannot, indeed, be a doubt that hope is a mental 
quality perfectly distinct from desire. Who could be 
filled with a greater desire to cast off the oppressive 
weight of dismal forebodings which had often darkened 
his bright and manly faculties, than Dr. Samuel Johnson. 
Yet his hope of succeeding was extremely weak. Could 
that want proceed from a timid disposition ? No, Johnson 
was personally resolute and brave. Did it originate in 



284 HOPE. 

want of confidence in his own powers ? Certainly not, 
for he possessed much self-esteem, and was conscious 
of his mental superiority. And it may be added that 
his intellect enabled him, in an eminent degree, to 
weigh the probability of success which might attend upon 
his desires. 

Almost all will agree, whatever may be the opinion 
as to the erroneousness of his political and ethical specu- 
lations, that few men were more desirous of seeing 
mankind guided by the dictates of benevolence and jus- 
tice, in order that they might become virtuous and 
happy, than William Godwin, and yet how gloomy were 
his anticipations. Perhaps not one of his works is so 
strongly illustrative of this as " Fleetwood ; " for, not- 
withstanding the delightful disquisitions of Euffigny and 
Mackneil in asserting the supremacy of benevolence and 
justice in the human character, " Fleetwood " still con- 
tinues the victim of misanthropic doubts, and can scarcely 
be prevailed upon to indulge a hope of ever meeting 
with that virtuous and benign sympathy which he so 
anxiously desired to obtain, and the existence of which 
the characters of his two friends must have shown him 
it would be unreasonable to doubt. It may be well to 
state here that the part of the head in which the organ 
of Hope lies is considerably depressed in the casts from 
nature of Dr. Johnson and Godwin (see Plate 1.) 

If hope then is not an attribute of different organs, 
either in an active or inactive state, it must be a substan- 
tive, fundamental power which requires a particular organ 
for its evolvement. In what part of the brain are we to 
expect to find this organ ? In the superior region of the 
head, undoubtedly. For though strong hope may some- 
times be the abettor of vice by enhancing the enterprise 



hope. 285 

of those who risk their reputation and fortune in order to 
gratify selfish and sordid appetites, we are not thence to 
infer that hope is of a grovelling nature. As well might 
it be said that the organ of Benevolence ought to lie 
among those of the lower feelings because it is recorded 
that a morbid desire to relieve distress had prompted an 
unfortunate man to commit robbery and even murder in 
order to relieve the wants of the destitute. No, the bias 
of hope is towards an alliance with the noblest sentiments. 
It encourages and sustains fortitude. It attends upon 
beneficence lest the open hand of charity should be with- 
drawn at the instigation of distrust which some instances 
of deception might probably induce us too generally to 
entertain. For hope is a foe to suspicion. It exercises 
a happy influence over the mental faculties. It is 
essentially a promoter of the activity of the other powers 
hy habitually spreading out before our mental vision 
glorious and sunny prospects of future joy and success. 
It materially serves to loosen the curb with which doubt 
and timidity would impede our onward movements, and 
leaves the faculties to the free enjoyment of all the power 
with which nature may have endowed them. Hence, 
hope may be deemed a main-stay of enterprise. For 
though a man fertile in intellectual resources and, con- 
sequently, capable of devising new and seemingly effectual 
methods of carrying his projects to a prosperous issue, 
and energy and courage to contend against unexampled 
obstacles, will be enterprising, he may still be compara- 
tively deficient in hope. Whenever this is the case, 
even slight failures and disappointments will cause depres- 
sion of mind and anxiety to an extent which probably is not 
warranted by the disappointment. Hope conduces to a 
cheerful, happy, enduring, and religious frame of mind. 



286 HOPE. 

In every relation of life, from infancy to old age, it affords 
consolation. When sorrow, poverty and sickness render 
home desolate it is the assuager of affliction, and by its 
cheering promises of returning prosperity it becomes an 
inciter to industry. To the captive far removed from 
the presence of the beloved objects of his solicitude it is 
this delightful sentiment which affords comfort to the 
almost broken spirit by creating anticipations of some 
day seeing his prison doors thrown open and of his being 
again restored to joy, light, and happiness. But if he be 
precluded from the possibility of escape, and he finds that 
the remainder of his days must be spent in cheerless 
bondage, still it is to hope he must resort for the only 
balm capable of soothing the bitter wounds of sadness 
which in its absence might urge him to commit self- 
destruction, or at least leave no spot where a single ray 
of comfort could fall to illumine the dreary night of 
sorrow and desolation by which he is encompassed. It 
is then that hope becomes man's best and truest friend by 
inducing him to turn his attention from the sad realities 
of this life to anticipations of happiness in a world to 
come. 

" As if even yet, through pain and ill, 
Hope had not quit him, as if still 
Her precious pearl in sorrow's cup, 
TTnmelted at the bottom lay, 
To shine again, when all drunk up, 
The bitterness should pass away." 

Hope has no retrospective views, nor does the present 
time engage its attention. To the future alone its nature 
seems to be adapted. Hence it is reasonable to infer 
that hope is an important ingredient in the mental con- 
stitution of a religious character. Yet it may be said with 



HOPE. 287 

truth that the great moralist, Doctor Samuel Johnson, 
was a religious man, although hope was a weak attribute 
of his character. But hope is only a component part of 
a religious disposition, and it was not hopefulness which 
characterised the piety of that remarkable man. For 
although his hope must have received some stimulus 
from his thorough and enlightened conviction of the good- 
ness and mercy of God, it yet had not the power of 
filling his mind with a tithe of the confidence displayed in 
their expectations of future beatitude by many persons 
who in a moral point of view were far his inferiors (see 
Plate 10). 

Now, this active faith and heartfelt devotion, were 
the result of the energy of the organs of Marvellousness 
and Veneration, both of which are large in the head of 
Johnson. But, since belief in the attributes of God 
and humble submission to his will, and profound adora- 
tion of his goodness may co-exist, as in the case of 
Dr. Johnson, with much complexional despondency ; and, 
whereas despondency must, more or less, tend to weaken 
faith and devotion by laying the mind open to doubts 
of their efficacy, one cannot hesitate to think that hope 
must be an important ingredient in the composition of a 
pious character. For hope strengthens faith and spreads 
a halo of glorious expectancy around devotion. Indeed, 
the presence of such a primitive separate sentiment 
affords an assurance that there must be a hereafter to give 
perpetual shelter to the joyous anticipations of the human 
soul. 

Where then, ought we to look for the organ of this 
primitive sentiment? Where, but among those of the 
moral and religious faculties. And it is strong presump- 
tive evidence of the probability of this being the case 



288 HOPE. 

that the only part of the crown of the head left 
unappropriated by Gall, is that which lies on each side of 
the organs of Veneration and Firmness, and behind that 
of Marvellousness. 

A question now arises as to whether this part be a 
single organ. It is clear that, if it be only one organ, 
its development should be uniform ; that is to say, the 
entire space ought to be equally depressed or elevated, 
according to the degree of functional energy manifested 
by it. But such uniformity does not exist in a vast 
number of cases. 

In the casts of Eammohun Eoy and William Godwin, 
for instance, the back portion is large, while the front 
part is small. But in the cast of Dr. Dodd, and many 
others, the front portion is protuberant and the posterior 
part depressed. The function of the one must, therefore, 
be distinct from that of the other. But, as I trust, 
sufficient evidence has been adduced already to prove 
that the sense of justice is the function of the posterior 
part ; and as this sentiment is often strongly manifested 
when the anterior portion is small, this portion must serve 
some other purpose. And as there cannot be a doubt 
that hope is a fundamental, active power of the mind, and, 
as it is esssentially an attribute of religion, it is to be 
expected that its organ must lie in the vicinity of those 
of Veneration and Marvellousness. For it is an invariable 
law that those functions which are most essential to the 
support of each other have their organs contiguous to 
one another. 

In strict accordance with this law of nature it is found 
that a full or large development of the part of the head on 
each side of the organ of Veneration, which, as has been 
already stated, occupies the place, the centre of which is 



hope. 289 

called the " fontanelle " in infants, is always found to be 
accompanied by a hopeful disposition. And that a 
tendency to despond is always the result of a poor 
development of the same part. There is an immense 
amount of recorded facts in proof of the truth of this. 
The part of the head then, unappropriated by Gall, is the 
seat of the organs of two sentiments, the one moral, the 
other more exclusively religious. The great deficiency of 
these organs in the most abandoned criminals, and their 
elevation and fulness in those who have been the glory of 
mankind, leave no room for doubting that such is their 
nature. But it should be observed that with large Hope 
there may be very little hon6ur, if Conscientiousness be 
small ; while a man with a small or moderate Hope may 
he the soul of honour. The casts of Dr. Dodd and Dr. 
Gall are excellent examples of this (see Plate 10, dia- 
grams 1 & 2). In Dodd the organ of Conscientiousness 
is signally deficient, in Gall it is very large, while that 
of Hope is not so prominent. And in the cast of the 
late eminent engineer Bryan Donkin, the earliest sup- 
porter of Phrenology in this country, the organ of 
Conscientiousness is extremely protuberant and that of 
Hope relatively small. 

Had it not been for the support afforded him by this 
charming sentiment, could the incomparable Tasso, with 
a soul full of honour and sensibility, have endured seven 
years' of unjust confinement in a squalid dungeon ? It 
was hope that animated the noble soul of Gastavus Vasa, 
when, in the mines of Sweden, he formed the plan of 
rescuing his country from the dominion of tyrants, and 
sustained him in the forests of Delacarlia, while he was 
striving to raise, in the midst of the greatest obstacles, 
that patriotic band of peasants whose devoted bravery 

T 



290 HOPE. 

ultimately enabled him to accomplish the object of his 
perilous enterprise. Could Gustavus Adolphus, with all 
his courage, have ventured to volunteer his services in the 
cause of the Protestants of Europe against the mighty 
power of Austria and her allies, if Hope had not flung 
her protecting mantle around him? Without an ample 
endowment of Hope could Suwarrow have undertaken 
to reduce, in the space of three days, the strong fortress 
of Ismail, which had withstood a siege of seven months ? 
Hope contributed much to inspire Charles the Twelfth 
with that heroic confidence which prompted him, at the 
age of eighteen, to attack, with only eight thousand men, 
at Narva, eighty thousand Eussians. " What," said 
he, to one of his officers, " you doubt that with my eight 
thousand Swedes I can beat eighty thousand Eussians ? " 
But, although it ministered instinctively to the glory 
of this heroic prince, it must not be forgotten that to 
it also should, in some measure, be ascribed his mis- 
fortunes, since, by never calculating on the possibility 
of reverses, he was hurried into enterprises which a less 
hopeful spirit would have suggested it were madness 
to undertake. 

The history of this extraordinary man shows that hope, 
when it is unrestrained by circumspection, may be the 
source of manifold misfortunes. It induces men to- 
speculate beyond their means, and to indulge in un- 
reasonable expectations of good fortune. 

The organ of Hope is very large in the authentic 
portraits of these remarkable characters. It is very 
prominent, also, in those of the heroes of Copenhagen, 
Acre, and Plassy. The best portraits of Drake and 
Ealeigh are very much elevated at the same part, and 
it is a remarkable feature in those of Bishop Eidley and 



HOPE. 291 

the Scotch reformer, John Knox. In Kidley it was 
associated with organs which rendered him mild and 
enduring, in Knox with such as indicated intemperate 
ferocity. The organ, as has been already noticed, is very 
large in the cast, taken after his execution, of the " unfor- 
tunate " Dr. Dodd, whose reckless desires and vain ex- 
pectations, unchecked by even a moderate sense of justice 
or of caution, prompted him to devise schemes for their 
speedy gratification, which ruined his prospects, blasted 
his reputation, and at last led to the commission of an 
act for which his life became forfeited to the law. 

To the sanguineness of disposition engendered by much 
hope and insufficient caution, unchecked by a very weak 
conscientiousness and but little firmness (for the organs 
of these faculties are very small in the cast of Dodd's 
head (see Plate 10), must be attributed the act which 
brought him to an ignominious end. For he averred 
that when he forged the name of his former pupil, Lord 
Chesterfield, he entertained the hope of being able to meet 
the bills himself. A forlorn hope it certainly Avas for 
a man in his embarrassed condition, with a shaken repu- 
tation. Nor is it uncharitable to doubt the honest 
sincerity of his expectation. It is more likely that his 
exuberant hopefulness and want of caution led him to 
trust to the charitable forbearance of his lordship. 

To the last he was full of hope as to the probability of 
his obtaining a pardon. And when he found that his 
doom was inevitably sealed he evinced a lively and 
unflinching confidence in the mercy of God ; and trusted 
that he should be transported from a world of woe and 
misery to one of happiness and joy. Once after his 
condemnation he said, "I am now a spectacle to men and 
shall soon be a spectacle to angels." And when about to 

T 2 



292 HOPE. 

be bound, he looked up and said, u Yet I am free, my 
freedom is there ! " pointing upwards. Such was the 
effect of a predominant organ of Hope, when it was 
allowed to revel in its own extacies, uncontrolled by- 
caution and a due sense of justice, upon a mind character- 
istically open to religious impressions ; though their 
influence upon his conduct through life was so neutralized 
by the unscrupulous gratification of his passions, that 
even in regard to his religious faith he has left himself open 
to the charge of insincerity. Insincere he certainly was 
in character, generally ; but not in regard to religious faith 
and devotion. But the singular instability of his nature 
and the striking absence of moral principle, rendered him 
liable, even in that case, to be suspected of duplicity 
(see Plates 2 and 10). 

How opposite in respect to hopefulness were the feelings 
of the wretched culprit Williams, who murdered the poor 
Italian boy, Carlo Ferrari, for the purpose of selling his 
body to the anatomists. Previous to the execution of 
this bad man his mind became the tenement of frightful 
forebodings and paralysing despair. Nor could the 
soothing exhortations of the Ordinary of Newgate serve 
to drive from his soul the demon that was tormenting it. 
When approaching the place of execution he exclaimed 
that he felt the flames of hell at his heart. In this 
wretch's head the organ of Hope was very small, while 
that of Caution was very large. 

These two cases shew that the sentiment called Hope 
is the one that inspires us with trust in the mercy of God. 
It must, therefore, be intimately connected in its func- 
tions with those of faith and devotion. And the actual 
contiguousness of the organs of those affections affords 
additional proof that such is the case. For example, in 



hope. 293 

the cast of a demonimaniac from Esquirol's collection, 
who had been for years plunged in the depths of agonizing 
despair, this part of the head was quite depressed, while 
it was excessively salient in the cast of another who was 
possessed by extreme exaltedness of religious hope. And 
in the casts of several other religious enthusiastic mono- 
maniacs in Deville's collection the organ of Hope was a 
marked characteristic. In the finest engraved portraits 
of Ignatius Loyola, Francis de Sales, Vincent de Paul, 
of Fenelon, Gobinet, and churchmen of every denomina- 
tion, eminent for their intense and hopeful piety, this 
part of the head is singularly elevated. And its deficiency 
in some faithful and eminently pious characters is 
attended by misgivings as to their prospects of future 
happiness. Such was the case with Dr. Johnson. And 
the young lady, whose mental despondency is mentioned 
in the essay on Caution, is a striking instance of the same 
unhappy tendency, and of the coincident inadequacy of 
development in regard to the organ of Hope. 

In persons naturally disposed to look upon everything 
through a gloomy medium, and who, in their under- 
takings, are tormented by anticipations of disaster, and 
are habitually discontented with things as they are, this 
part of the head is relatively and absolutely small, when 
compared with the same part in the heads of those who 
never doubt of the possibility of accomplishing projects 
which would seem to others visionary and impracticable. 
In the latter category may be placed the late benevolent 
Robert Owen ; and certainly the organ of Hope is very 
large in his head. It is also very large in the head of 
that good and amiable man, the late John Isaac Hawkins, 
civil engineer, who was always coming forward with 
some useful mechanical invention, such as pencils and 



294 HOPE. 

other things, from the sale of which he hoped to reap 
great advantage. But unfortunately others profited most 
by his inventions. Still he went on to the last, inventing 
and hoping. The same part of the head is exceedingly 
large in the wild enthusiast Thorn, or Sir William 
Courtnay, as he called himself, who never doubted his 
capacity of compelling the whole population to flock to 
his standard, as their spiritual redeemer. All his pros- 
pects were brightened by the unclouded rays of unflag- 
ging hope. The thoughts of Oxford, on the contrary, 
were gloomy, and dismal were his projects. Previous 
to his vile attempt on the life of his youthful, liberal, 
and innocent Queen, his time was spent in his apartment 
in drawing horrific devices in blood-red characters upon 
a black ground, which foreboded evil, and everything 
around him seemed as if the cheering sunshine of hope 
had never entered the place to illumine its dreariness. 

In this man's head there is quite a marked depression 
of the part which Spurzheim supposed to be the organ 
of Hope. It forms a prominent feature in the photo- 
graph of the late Earl of Dundonald, as well as in the 
cast from nature of the fearless and enterprising smug- 
gler, Captain Johnson. This part is large, also, in 
Thorwaldsen's fine bust of Admiral Lord Exmouth. 

In this short catalogue of heroes may well be included 
the noble-minded Crillon, the favourite general and 
faithful friend of Henry the Fourth. In this enter- 
prising man's portrait, engraved by the celebrated 
Balechou, the organ of Hope is conspicuous, although 
the whole upper region of the head is singularly elevated. 

This part is large in the busts and portraits of the 
poet Moore, and moderate in the cast from nature of 
George Crabbe. And is not the comparative influence 



HOPE. 295 

-of this faculty visible in the tenour of their writings? 
One walks in sunshine, the other in shade, but the atmo- 
sphere he moves in is so transparent that the objects he 
presents us with never escape our notice. For example, 
while Moore sings — 

" They may rail at this life, from the hour I began it 
I've f ound it a life full of pleasure and bliss." 

the less hopeful spirit of Crabbe prompts him to exclaim — 

" No view appears 
By sighs unruffled, or unstained by tears." 

In the fine original cast from nature of Sir Walter 
Scott the same part of the head is very large, while, 
as has been already stated, it is moderate or even small 
in the casts from nature of Dr. Johnson and William 
Godwin (Plate 1, Diagrams 1, 2). And do we not find, 
on looking over the eloquent pages of Rasselas and of 
Fleetwood, how deeply the mind of each of these writers 
was imbued with gloomy and distrustful imaginings as 
to the vanity of human wishes ? While, on the contrary, 
chivalrous buoyancy and elasticity of spirit render the 
works of Scott, though less studiously profound, far more 
delightful. 

It must not be overlooked, however, that with all his 
judgment, shrewdness of observation, and knowledge of 
the slips and casualties incident to the affairs of life, he 
surrendered himself to the seductive influence of hope. 
And it is highly probable that if this sentiment were far 
less characteristic of his disposition he would have paused 
before he was induced to become a party to speculations 
which rendered his once cheerful and happy home the 
abode of sorrow. Happy still was it for him to be 



296 HOPE. 

possessed in time of need of a lively hope, for it stimulated 
his native fortitude to sustain with uncommon resignation 
the sudden weight of bitter disappointment and misfortune 
which awaited him, by holding out prospects of its still 
being in his power to surmount all his difficulties by the 
untiring efforts of his wonderfully fertile genius. " Gentle- 
men," said he to his creditors, le Time and me against 
any two. Let me take this good ally into company, and 
I believe I shall be able to pay you every farthing." He 
then sat down, at the age of fifty-five, to pay off liabilities 
amounting to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. 

Thus does hope show itself to be a very active incen- 
tive to enterprising exertion. But it is only an incentive, 
for in the absence of an adequate amount of self-reliance 
and courage a man with strong hope will hope on to 
the end and yet attempt to do very little, while a man 
of great courage and self-reliance, with a comparative 
deficiency of hope, will be inclined to increase his exertions 
in order to provide against disappointments, with anticipa- 
tions of which he is, through the relative weakness of 
hope, rendered unhappy. 

Those unhappy persons who have been the victims of 
a suicidal tendency without any rational, ostensible cause, 
are always endowed with a poor development of this part 
of the head. And instances are recorded of lesion of the 
brain occurring exactly at the part called the organ of 
Hope in persons whose lives were rendered completely 
miserable by hopeless and needless despondency. The 
case of the Reverend William Walford, of Uxbridge, is a 
striking illustration of this. I shall, therefore, give a 
few extracts from a memoir of him. 

" His affections," says a pupil of his, the Reverend 
William Froggatt, " were deep seated, and did not play 



HOPE. 297 

on the surface of his character with the winning blandness 
which renders some happily attempered spirits so attrac- 
tive. An impression of reserve and austerity was the 
one generally produced on the minds of his pupils at 
their first acquaintance with him. . . . But his feel- 
ings were really much warmer than they seemed. When 
his friend, the late Mr. Phillips, of Harpenden Grammar 
School, died, he could not restrain his grief before the 
students, and wept for him as a brother for the most 
beloved of brothers. A domestic sorrow would pierce 
him deeply. . . . He generally shunned, I think, 
rather than sought any private communications with us. 
If we met in the college grounds, which was but seldom, 
there was a self-absorption in his air and salutation which 
indicated that he would rather have avoided the casual 
rencontre. At dinner, the only meal he partook of with 
us, and that very irregularly, for he sometimes did not 
join us for Aveeks together, he did not converse much." 
After praising his tutor as a man of pre-eminently sterling 
worth, Mr. Froggatt says — 

"I have merely just referred to the fact of his being 
constitutionally subject to morbid feeling. This, I believe, 
was unknown to the students of my time. But, shortly 
after my leaving college, his intimate friend the Rev. 
Mr. Ward, of Stowmarket, informed me that he suffered 
habitually, sometimes intensely, from this cause, and that 
on one occasion, when expressing his admiration of some 
natural scenery through which they were riding, his 
afflicted friend replied that it was all dark and cheerless 
to him, and that there was not a single point in creation 
to which he could look with comfort. The same gentle- 
man told me, moreover, that in order to keep his mind 
rightly balanced, and on peaceful terms with the divine 



298 hope. 

government, Mr. Walford found it necessary to read 
'Butler's Analogy ' about once a year. ... I did not 
see my revered tutor again till the end of the year, 1829, 
when he had been prostrated by grief for the death of his 
only daughter, aggravated by his constitutional malady, 
I found him wasted and sorrowful to a distressing degree ; 
and on hearing me mentioning some gratifying and 
hopeful circumstances in my then approaching settlement 
over a church, he contrasted mine with his own lot, which 
he assured me was about the limit of endurance." 

Mr. Walford's biographer, Mr. Stoughton, to whom this 
letter was written, says, " Nor, should it be forgotten, in 
estimating his moral worth, that there were physical 
causes of a peculiar kind, insidiously at work in his 
system throughout life, most painfully affecting his entire 
history. He who ' knoweth our frame, and remembereth 
that we are but dust,' has, we may rest assured taken 
this into account in his judgment of the departed ; and 
it would be flagrantly inequitable in us to forget it in 
the estimate we may venture to form of his character." 

Such is the charitable asseveration of a divine and a 
scholar who felt convinced that the diseased manifestations 
of Mr. Walford's mind were the result of physical causes. 
What then were these physical conditions ? 

At the post-mortem examination on June 27, 1850, 
conducted by Messrs. Macnamara and Rayner, surgeons, 
Uxbridge, it was found that " On opening the head 
the dura mater was found so firmly attached to the bone 
at two points as to be incapable of separation without 
being torn. Those two points were — one near the superior 
and anterior angle of the right parietal bone, the other 
at the superior and posterior angle of the left parietal 
bone. They were marked on the internal surface of the 



HOPE. 299 

bones by deep depressions having a sort of honey-combed 
appearance, but not carious. The outer table of the scull 
alone remained at these parts, and its thickness scarcely 
exceeded stout letter paper, the size of both depressions 
were nearly the same, about an inch long by three-fourths 
of an inch in breadth. The colour of the brain under 
the first point was different from all its surrounding 
surface ; it had assumed a green tinge similar to long 
retained pus. This did not extend more than a quarter 
of an inch into the substance of the brain. There was 
no discolouration of the brain at the second point, nor 
was there elevation of the surface at either ; the depres- 
sions in the bone were from thickening of the dura mater 
in those specified localities. The dura mater throughout 
its whole extent had lost much of its proper vascularity, 
and assumed a thickened yellow, leathery appearance. 
Over the whole surface of the brain there was considerable 
serous effusion ; the ventricles were full of water, there 
were no signs of recent inflammatory action, but there 
were several points of unnatural adhesion of the mem- 
branes, denoting former existence of an inflammatory 
state." . . . "The valves of the heart were sound; 
the aorta was fully one-half larger than natural, and at 
its origin from the heart was an almost continuous circle 
of ossification. The whole inner surface of the left ven- 
tricle and of the arch of the aorta had a deep red colour 
like inflammation, but there were no enlarged capillary 
vessels to be seen. The pericardium contained an ounce 
of water." 

Notwithstanding the length of this quotation I cannot 
deny myself the pleasure of quoting one or two remarks 
contained in a letter from Dr. Whiting, of Lyme, to the 
son of Mr. Walford upon the statement of the surgeons 



300 HOPE. 

of Uxbridge. " The lucid statement," says Dr. Whiting,, 
" of the appearance of the corpse on inspection, gives 
proof of a most satisfactory cause having existed of a 
physical character for the distressing mental malady 
which darkened many of the days of your dear father's 
life." And again he says, "The part of the head where 
I expected this change of structure might be found, 
corresponds with the anterior central point of disease 
mentioned and so well described by Messrs. Macnamara 
and Rayner." Dr. Whiting's accurate conjecture in this 
case is evidently the result of his acquaintance with the 
works of Grail and Spurzheim, and of his conviction of 
the soundness of their views regarding the functions of 
the brain. For the fac^ to be borne in mind here is 
this, namely, that the disorganization of the brain, near 
the anterior superior angle of the right parietal bone 
embraced the convolutions which constitute the organ 
of Hope, solely, and that the diseased condition of those 
lying beneath the posterior superior angle of the left 
parietal bone affected those of the organs of Attachment 
and Inhabitiveness, and thus probably trenched upon 
Philoprogenitiveness. And that the intensity of Mr. 
Walford's grief at hearing of the death of his friend, and 
his utter prostration of spirit when his only daughter 
died, as well as the dreary, painful mental despondency 
with which he was habitually, and without any assignable 
cause, afflicted, and which even threatened to blot out 
every prospect of happiness hereafter, and, maybe, had 
spread the cheerless film of doubt as to a future exist- 
ence over his mental vision, are physical and moral 
coincidences which afford most interesting corroborative 
attestation as to the truthfulness of the foundation upon 
which the science of Phrenology rests, and, in this case, 



HOPE. 301 

of the existence of a special faculty called Hope, and 
the true position of its organ. 

I am here reminded of a gentleman, possessed of an 
independent fortune, in whose head the organ of Hope 
was small. He was active, energetic, industrious, clever, 
and ardent in pursuit of the object he wished to accom- 
plish. He was habitually very sprightly and animated in 
his manner.* He loved his friend and would do a great 
deal to serve him, without expecting a return. He was 
married early and had sons, one of whom was almost his 
idol. This child was never happy but when he was with 
his father, and the father could not feel comfort unless 
the child were near him. Unfortunately this boy died of 
diphtheria when he had reached his seventh year. From 
that time the father's usual energy failed him. He 
neglected to take proper sustenance. Sometimes he 
would abstain from food for days together. Tobacco he 
then smoked to excess, and it seemed to be his only 
comforter. He pined away in this manner for a con- 
siderable time, every day becoming thinner. No reason 
that could be adduced helped to cure his despondency; 
for he thought he was to blame for not having the advice 
of the late Dr. Todd, in the first instance, instead of 
trusting to the ordinary medical attendant ; and he 
therefore felt that he was accessory to the child's death. 
No persuasion could remove from his mind this unan- 
swerable fact, as he termed it. This continual despondency 
so worked upon his mind that in a state of excitement, 
caused by something which greatly disturbed him, he 
committed suicide. 

The part of the head, which I am now considering is 

* His organ of Mirthfulness was very large. 



302 HOPE. 

very small in the cast of William Mears (the brass 
founder, in the employment of the late eminent practical 
Phrenologist Mr. De Ville), whose case has been noticed, 
when treating of combativeness. 

But though persons naturally disposed to fall into a 
state of despondency would be likely, in very agitating 
circumstances, to entertain thoughts of getting rid of 
their misery in this way; still active benevolence, true 
piety, and the absence of self-will will always prove to 
be influential correctives of such unhappy suggestions. 
Nor is it to be inferred that all those who destroy them- 
selves are deficient in the organ of Hope, since men the 
most enterprising and heroic, " who felt a stain like a 
wound," have resorted to this dreadful alternative, rather 
than endure the infliction of what they felt to be un- 
merited disgrace. The great Lord Clive is an instance 
of this. It has been said that self-destruction is a 
cowardly act. But the instance I have just given shews 
that it is not necessarily the act of a coward. 

How opposite was the resolution of the benevolent, 
magnanimous, and unselfish Scipio, when accused of the 
same kind of political peculation by the bitter tongue of 
the iron-minded Cato. And it may well be supposed that 
the hopeful, heroic Clive would have held on like Scipio, if 
his mental faculties had not lost their healthful balance. 

The name of Scipio calls to mind the strong and 
interesting testimony, afforded by the sculptured remains 
of antiquity, as to the uniform connection between th& 
primitive sentiment of hope and the part of the brain 
called the organ of that sentiment. 

The most unpractised eye cannot but be struck with the 
remarkable saliency of the organ of Hope in the bust of 
Scipio Africanus, the Elder. And was not the generous 



HOPE. 303 

character of Scipio unsullied by the slightest tinge of 
constitutional suspicion? In his mortal enemy Cato, on 
the contrary, the same part of the head is not well 
developed ; and his whole conduct affords strong evidence 
of his being instinctively swayed by a singularly mistrust- 
ful disposition. He would not have a physician to attend 
his family, because all the physicians of his time in Rome 
were Greeks ; and he distrusted them so far as to think 
them capable of poisoning a Roman. The contrast 
between the busts of these great men in the region of 
Hope is indeed very remarkable. And the disparity is 
no less striking between the authentic bust of Cato of 
Utiea and of the busts of the man he hated most, the 
great Julius Cassar. With his many good qualities Cato 
suspected every man of evil intentions whose political 
views differed from his own. Cassar never suspected any 
one, not even his bitterest enemies. It was his great 
perspicacity in fathoming the real designs of his enemies 
that put him on his guard, and not a natural tendency 
to give way to suspicion. Indeed, he lost his life by 
his indisposition to distrust even those against whom he 
was warned. Compare the busts of Zeno the Stoic and 
Horace the Epicurean, with respect to the elevation of 
the part which constitutes the organ of Hope, and how 
great is the disparity. Illustrations might be multiplied 
to an immense extent ; but, a sufficient number has been 
already adduced to shew how necessary it is for those, 
who hope to gain scientific credit by opposing Phreno- 
logy, to examine Nature on these points for their own 
sakes. 

It may be well to add that the sculls of aboriginal races 
of men display great differences as to the fulness of the 
region of Hope. In the Australians, Tasmanians, and 



304 HOPE. 

Esquimeaux, it is small. It is fuller in the North 
American Indians, and still more so in such of the 
Sandwich Islanders as I have seen. It is not generally 
a strongly marked feature of the Maori scull, of which 
I have seen many. It is very salient in all the sculls and 
casts of sculls that I have seen of Peruvians of the Inca 
race. In the scull of the devout priest in Egypt already 
mentioned, who was the honoured friend of Denon, the 
organ of Hope is very large, and its happy influence 
on his character was strikingly manifested. 

Sufficient reason has now been given to show that 
hope cannot be a quality or mode of action of any other 
primitive faculty, or association of faculties, although 
the intensity of the affection must of course be modified 
by diversities of combination. Nor can it be reduced 
to the shadow of a shade by supposing that it is a passive 
affection of a portion or portions of the brain. On the 
contrary, it is a simple elementary substantive power, 
essentially connected with religion and morality. And 
abundant instances of well-authenticated facts have been 
brought forward to prove, both positively and negatively 
that the position assigned to the organ by Spurzheim is 
undeniably correct. 

How admirable is the personification of hope in the 
following stanza from the " Fairy Queen " — 

" With, him went Hope in rank, a handsome maid, 
Of cheerful look, and lovely to behold ; 
In silken samite she was light arrayed, 
And her fair locks were woven up in gold ; 
She always smiled, and in her hand did hold 
A holy water sprinkle, dipped in dew, 
"With which she sprinkled favours manifold 
On whom she list, and did great liking shew, 
Great liking unto many, but true love to few." 



MARVELLOUSNESS. 



Having found it necessary, when treating of venera- 
tion, to make some remarks upon the nature and function 
of Marvellousness, in order the better to understand the 
peculiar attributes of the former and the place it holds 
in the composition of a religious character, it will now be 
proper to notice, briefly, the mental manifestations which 
are characteristic of the latter faculty, when it is not 
acting in unison with veneration. 

This sentiment, when very energetic, has been the 
source of that ready credence which has been given in 
every region of the globe, and at all periods of the history 
of mankind, to the existence of powers which exercise 
a supernatural influence over our destiny, and the origin 
of which it was beyond the most acute and comprehen- 
sive intellect to discover. 

It is obvious that a tendency to believe in super- 
natural agencies must proceed from a primitive faculty 
of the mind, and cannot be merely the result of educa- 
tion and habit, although these would certainly increase 
its intensity. For we find that men renowned for intel- 
lectual superiority have been led into a belief in the 
existence of supernatural objects. In what way, save 
by the admission of the existence of such a fundamental 
power of the mind, can we account for the absurd 
credulity of Dr. Johnson regarding the possible truth of 

z 



306 MARVELLOUSNESS. 

the Cock-lane gliost story. Neither his education nor his 
intellect, which was so critical and penetrating, were at 
all favourable to his falling into so preposterous a sup- 
position. Neither did he live in an age remarkable for 
the prevalence of superstition. Indeed, so powerful is 
the influence sometimes exercised by this feeling over 
minds of the most extraordinary intelligence and good- 
ness that we find Socrates, who, during a long life, 
had devoted his great and generous mind to the moral 
regeneration of his countrymen, and whose energies were 
directed to the inculcation of a belief in the existence of 
one supreme, all-wise intelligence, could not entirely divest 
himself of a belief in the efficacy of sacrificing a cock 
to iEsculapius. Napoleon believed in lucky days. Crom- 
well was visionary and fanatical. Wallenstein was an 
enthusiastic astrologer. The brave and high-minded 
John, Duke of Bedford, the glory of England and terror of 
France, during his regency, did not escape being affected 
by the superstition of the age in which he lived. This 
is evident from one of his own letters in Eymer X, in 
which he ungallantly and ungenerously styles Joan of 
Arc, the enthusiastic patriot maid, "A disciple and lyme 
of the fiende, that used fals enchauntments and sorcerie." 

It is in the morbid manifestations of this sentiment 
that the strongest evidence is found of its existence as 
a primitive mental faculty, since, in such cases, delusions 
of this nature cannot be the result of sinister or hypo- 
critical motives. Did not the amiable and sublime Tasso, 
in his moments of aberration, imagine that he was con- 
versing with a familiar spirit. That original genius, 
Blake, the engraver and poet, was signally affected by a 
similar delusion. William Sharp, also, the great engraver, 
has left two fine prints, one of Johanna Southcote, 



MARVELLOUSNESS. 307 

the other of the self-styled prophet, Richard Brothers, 
because, as he said, he placed perfect confidence in their 
divine mission. Beneath the portrait of Brothers, who 
called himself Prince of the Hebrews, are the following 
words — " Fully believing this to be the man whom God 
has appointed, I engrave his likeness — William Sharp." 
That most profoundly intellectual, moral, and religious 
philosopher, Emanuel Swedenborg, retained, until his 
death, a thorough conviction that he had been admitted 
into the world of blessed spirits, the mansions of which 
he describes with gorgeous particularity. The great 
energy of tins faculty was strongly marked in the con- 
duct of the late Reverend Edward Irving, and the power 
which he possessed over the minds of many well-educated 
and intelligent individuals showed its prevalence, and 
its tendency when not kept within the just bounds of 
reason. But it is thought that he was himself, though 
naturally impressed with a strong sense of the marvellous, 
far from any wish or even tendency to countenance, if 
he could help it, the extravagant delusions of some of 
his followers, and it is said that the superior mind of this 
upright, single-hearted man broke down when he felt 
the effects of the flame which his eloquence lighted in 
minds too weak to form a correct judgment as to the 
scope and bearing of his doctrine. The extraordinary 
authority held over his unthinking votaries by the selfish 
and impious impostor, Robert Mathews, who was tried 
in 1835 at New York for the wilful murder of one of 
his deluded followers, Mr. Pearson, a wealthy merchant, 
in order to possess himself of the property which he knew 
that gentleman had the folly to settle on him, is an 
instance of the danger to which individuals and society 
are exposed from the predominant activity of this feeling. 

z 2 



308 MAKVELLOUSNESS. 

This man exercised the cruellest tyranny over his victims, 
who bore it all with the greatest humility, believing that 
he was the divinity. 

How strong was the delusion, caused by the undue 
activity of this faculty, among hundreds of the poor 
people of Kent, when the madman Thorn, or Sir William, 
Courtnay, as he called himself, led them to believe that he 
was the Messiah. When the military, under the command 
of Lieutenant Bennett, were approaching to arrest him, at 
the head of his followers, he deliberately shot the young 
officer, and was immediately after shot himself. Is such 
egregious folly as those country people were guilty of to 
be attributed entirely to ignorance? No, for though 
Thorn's disciples were for the most part illiterate, those of 
Mathews belonged to persons in a higher and wealthier 
position. See the binding influence held by Brigham 
Young over his enthusiastic votaries ; and how extensive is 
the unhallowed sway exercised by this self-styled prophet 
of the Salt Lake over his devoted subjects. But the 
permanency of such influence no doubt depends in some 
measure upon the rare administrative talents with which 
this singular man is said to be gifted. 

Ignorance has been called the parent of superstition. 
But these cases shew that that cannot be its genuine 
source. It fosters but does not beget it. It may be said 
that superstition is the result of a faulty education — that a 
belief in the mysterious was originally instilled into men's 
minds by a crafty priesthood, in order the more easily to 
practice on their ignorance and credulity. But how were 
the first promoters of a belief in the mysterious to know 
the proneness of the human mind to dwell upon superna- 
turalties ? How, but by the inward consciousness that 
instinctively informed them of the existence of such an 



MARVELLOUSNESS. 309 

affection in themselves. But for this instinctive con- 
sciousness of the natural aptitude of the mind for the 
reception of mysterious revelations no attempt could have 
been ever made to scatter the seeds of superstition upon a 
soil unsuited to their reproduction. Education, habit, and 
example will draw out and strengthen a faculty which 
already exists, but of course can never originate one. 
Neither can they do much towards the practical efficiency 
of any mental power, which is naturally very weak or 
borders upon idiotcy. 

The fundamental nature of this sentiment is further 
established by the well-attested fact that its energy is 
always in accordance with the development of a certain 
part of the brain, which can be indicated with exactness 
on the head. Its convolutions run into those of Venera- 
tion and Hope. And it may here be observed that it is 
the strength and harmony of these three organs which 
constitute genuine religious tendencies ; no matter of what 
denomination an individual's profession of faith may be. 
For instance, in the casts of the great sculptors, Flaxman 
and Canova, who manifested through life exalted religious 
feeling, the one as a Swedenborgian, the other as a 
Catholic, these organs are very large ; while they are 
small in Sharp's fine print of Tom Paine. Or if the head 
of Fenelon, by Auclran, be compared with that of Cardinal 
De Eetz, by Nanteuil, the former will be found very 
elevated, the latter comparatively depressed, at the seat 
of Marvellousness. In the portraits of St. Francis De 
Sales, Loyola, Gobinet, the Borromeos, and others, 
remarkable for the fervour of their faith in mysterious 
revelations, the same part is singularly prominent. In 
the head of Jacob Boehem, the German visionary, the 
organ is so large that it amounts to distortion. In the 



310 MARVELLOUSNESS. 

cast of the head of Thorn, or Courtnay, the Kentish 
fanatic, the development is very protuberant, while the 
organ is small in the cast of Carlile, who suffered as has 
been already stated, ten years' incarceration on account of 
his constant and obstinate promulgation of infidel doc- 
trines. In the fine portrait of the celebrated Sir Kenelm 
Digby, by Vandyke, the organ is very large, while it is 
small in the portrait of Thomas Chubb. Digby became 
from conviction a convert to the Roman Catholic faith ; 
Chubb was the author of " The Supremacy of the Father 
Asserted," and " A Discourse on Miracles ; " both of which 
had a leaning towards deism. This part of the head is 
exceedingly prominent in the portrait of Dr. Cogan, the 
author of " Ethical Questions," who denies the necessity 
of the reasoning faculties in searching after metaphysical, 
that is to say, spiritual, moral, or religious truths. These, 
he says, are to be discovered at once by inward and 
infallible sensations ; and our intellectual faculties are to 
be rejected as impertinent, intrusive, and dangerous. 

A friend once told me of a maniac, who imagined that 
he held conversations with spirits of the air, and who was 
frequently seen in the attitude of listening to the delightful 
harmony of their voices descending from above. On being 
asked how he heard them, he said, " I perceive them here," 
pointing to the upper lateral part of the frontal bone. 
Jonathan Martin, who fancied that he had been prompted 
by some mysterious monitor to set fire to York Minster, 
complained of severe pain in his head, just above the 
temple, and pointed exactly to the situation of the organ 
of Marvellousness, which is abnormally developed in his 
portrait. 

One of the qualities, which always accompanies a large 
development of this part of the head, is a relish for won- 



MARVELLOUSNESS. 311 

derful and romantic descriptions, or artistic delineations, 
according to the bias of the intellectual faculties either 
towards literature or art. And it is very apt, when 
characteristic, to render men somewhat too credulous in 
regard to new things which are of an extraordinary 
character. 

The organ is very large in the cast of the head of 
Mr. Greaves, one of Mr. Irving's congregation, and very 
moderate in the cast of Robert Owen. It is much larger 
in the cast from nature of Sir Walter Scott than in that 
of George Crabbe, although it is very well developed in 
the latter celebrated poet. The minds of both were 
eminently observant. They were not at all affected by 
metaphysical tendencies. Yet, it is certain, that Scott was 
much more influenced by a love of the marvellous than 
Crabbe. In the cast from nature of Fuseli, the painter, 
ihe organ is very salient ; and we know how strongly 
impregnated his works are with qualities originating in 
his inordinate love of the wonderful. The same part is 
large in Flaxman ; but in him it was under the guidance 
of a far more gentle and graceful nature. The same part 
of the head is very large in Bonasone's portrait of 
Michael Angelo. It is very large in those of Tasso and 
Ariosto, of Shakespeare and Spenser. The organ is large 
in the portraits of Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus, 
and very moderate in Frederic the Great. It is much 
more strongly marked in Charles the Fifth than in 
the Prince of Orange. And the same part of the head has 
always been found to be small in those criminals who 
could not be brought to recognize the truth of the mys- 
teries of revelation. The organ of Marvellousness is, 
beyond doubt, fully established. 



IDEALITY-SENSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL 
-THE POETICAL SENTIMENT- 



Having had a vast amount of evidence, confirmatory 
of the truth of Gall's discovery, regarding the existence of 
a special organ in the brain, which is an essential element 
in the composition of a poet's mind, pass through my own 
hands, I am bound to declare that the upper portion of the 
temple, as Gall has indicated, is conspicuously developed in 
all poets remarkable for the fire and enthusiasm of their 
genius. And, as a strong negative proof of the correct- 
ness of his conviction as to the existence and seat of 
the organ of Poetry, as he has named it, it may with cer- 
tainty be averred, that it is but moderately developed in 
the heads of those who, if they do not absolutely dislike 
poetry, are certainly free from any prepossession in its 
favour. 

But, notwithstanding all this, it would be a great mis- 
take to suppose that an ample development of this part of 
the head must, necessarily, be accompanied by poetical 
talent, or even any capacity for the composition of poetry. 
Still, though the function of this organ does not embrace 
talent for poetry, the poetical bias cannot exist without it ; 
for poetical enthusiasm will be felt in the presence of what 
is beautiful in nature and in art more intensely by persons 
possessed of an ample endowment of this organ than by 



IDEALITY. 313 

others who are less highly favoured in that respect, but 
who are, nevertheless, more capable of displaying talent 
for poetry. 

Indeed, to call it the organ of the talent for poetry 
would be to attribute to it a far more extensive sphere of 
action than this faculty really possesses. Nor does the 
term Ideality, proposed by Spurzheim, sufficiently indicate 
its function. It would give a more correct idea of its 
nature to name it the organ of the poetical bias. And, as 
it is the peculiar attribute of poetry to exalt and refine all 
the other faculties, by investing them with the charms of 
beauty, elegance and grandeur, it follows that a sense of 
the beautiful, the elegant, and the sublime is its primitive 
function. 

It is, also, characteristic of the true poetical disposition 
to feel dissatisfied with mere matter of fact descriptions of 
the every-day occurrences of life. The poet, therefore, 
without departing from the actual realities of nature, loves 
to place them in new and unexpected lights ; and in pro- 
portion to the inherent strength of this faculty will be the 
desire to adorn even ordinary subjects with the graces of 
originality ; for this sentiment is not satisfied with mental 
efforts that are merely imitative. It imparts a creative 
tendency, but it cannot confer creative power ; unless it be 
accompanied by a fine development of the organs of the 
affective and intellectual faculties. 

The love of seeing the productions of the human mind 
clothed in the fascinating garb of poetry is the special 
attribute of this sentiment, without reference to the parti- 
cular medium through which they may be manifested; 
whether it be the noble thoughts of Homer and Sophocles, 
of Shakespeare and Dante, of Michael Angelo and Eaphael, 
of Handel and Mozart, or of the men who have left 



314 IDEALITY. 

St. Peter's as a monument of the union of this sentiment 
with the mechanical and artistic faculties which are 
adorned and elevated by it. 

The love of the beautiful and the perfect then is the 
special function of this portion of the brain, without 
reference to the particular medium through which the 
sense of beauty may manifest itself, whether that be 
poetry or prose, music, sculpture, painting or architecture. 
For we find the organ of " Ideality," as it is now 
invariably called, large in the portraits and casts of those 
men, whose works are deeply imbued with the mental 
qualities just named ; and which are the invariable accom- 
paniments of a full development of this part of the brain. 
"While it is comparatively small in those who cannot 
appreciate poetic beauty, and moderately developed in 
those authors whose works, however great they may be 
in other respects, are devoid of that charming glow and 
enthusiastic exaltation of ideas by which true piety is cha- 
racterized. The style of the celebrated philosopher Locke 
may be regarded as a fine specimen of the last class of 
writers. His works are deficient in that glowing spirit 
of poetry which adorns the intellectual conceptions of 
Bacon and of Burke, though these are divested of the 
charms of verse. Are we, then, justified in supposing 
this organ to be essential to the due appreciation of what- 
ever is beautiful, and as far as can be, perfect ? Few 
men could evince keener sensitiveness as to the beauty of 
virtue than Locke, and yet the organ of the sense of the 
beautiful was not at all a salient feature in his head. 
But he possessed a superior endowment of the moral and 
intellectual organs. And as righteousness and mercy are 
intrinsically beautiful, the organs of these sentiments 
must be competent to appreciate moral beauty and 



IDEALITY. 315 

excellence, without the aid of Ideality. And should the 
intellectual powers of a man, thus morally organized, 
enable him to communicate his ideas to others, he could, 
assuredly delineate the forms of moral beauty with accu- 
racy and with force ; but still, without a fair endowment of 
the organ of Ideality, the picture would be wanting in that 
gracefulness of outline and fascinating glow of colour and 
enthusiasm of manner which the ample possession of this 
organ can alone enable an author to display. 

Such is the species of beauty which this organ only is 
capable of appreciating. It is that which adorns the 
intellectual creations of Bacon and of Jeremy Taylor, of 
Milton and of Burke. Contrast the style of these great 
writers with two others who also displayed extraordinary 
intellectual powers. I mean Dean Swift and William 
Cobbett. Swift could undoubtedly give a powerful and 
minutely graphic description of Satan, and descant with 
rare perspicacity and eloquence upon the Paradisical 
state of our first parents. But it is not assuming too 
much to say that his description, however powerful it 
might be, would manifest but little of that sublimity 
which casts such an air of grandeur around Milton's 
portrait of Satan ; nor would his representation of the 
garden of Eden be marked by that exquisite beauty of 
sentiment and gracefulness of style which characterizes 
Milton's delineation of the happy primeval state of Adam 
and Eve. Or suppose that Cobbett were to attempt a 
description of the Carnatic and the devastating of 
it by Hyder Ally, or endeavour to portray the charms 
and heartrending misfortunes of Marie Antoinette, would 
not his narrative fall far short of the appalling sublimity 
of Burke's description of the one, and the affecting 
pathos, beauty, and chivalric devotion evinced in his 



316 IDEALITY. 

delineation of the other. There cannot be the slightest 
doubt of the fact that the predominance of the organ of 
Ideality in the heads of Milton and Burke, and its cha- 
racteristic scantiness in those of Swift and Cobbett, caused 
this vast difference in their styles of writing. This organ 
is large in the busts of Byron, by Thorwaldsen and 
Bartolini, and also in the best portraits of him. In the 
mask from nature of Wordsworth, and in his bust by 
Chantrey, the organ is very large. It is not so marked 
a feature in the casts from nature of Crabbe and Scott. 

Supposing the view taken of the function of this organ 
to be true to nature, it should be inferred that the facul- 
ties of the two latter would necessarily evince less of 
the enthusiastic characteristics of poetry than those of 
the former. And is not this undoubtedly the case ? For, 
notwithstanding Scott's great descriptive power, extra- 
ordinary knowledge of character, and rare dramatic 
genius, in all of which he was at least Byron's equal, 
he yet must be considered inferior to him in that peculiar 
endowment which is the essence of the poetical tempera- 
ment. 

The contrast is still more observable in the works of 
Wordsworth and of Crabbe. This is shown even in the 
choice of their subjects. Wordsworth's "Excursion"" 
evinces the predominance of the contemplative and ideal 
faculties, and is a noble monument of the poet's philan- 
thropic disposition, set forth in language full of beauty and 
of power. A somewhat visionary thoughtfulness and pen- 
sive serenity are characteristic of the entire poem, 
heightened and beautified by a copious yet tranquil 
stream of poetical sentiment, the source of which is to 
be traced to his large organ of Ideality. He chose the 
character of a recluse, and laid the scene of his poem in 



IDEALITY. 317 

the midst of a secluded and romantic country. Crabbe, 
on the contrary, found fit subjects for his muse in the 
misery and degradation of the parish workhouse, and 
displayed extraordinary power and eloquence in laying 
bare the practices incident to the various trades and 
professions pursued by the inhabitants of a borough. Few 
men ever equalled Crabbe in the faculty of describing, 
with vividness and truth, the tide of wretchedness 
which is sure, sooner or later, to overwhelm those who 
stray from the paths of rectitude. Nor, in delineating 
the fall of innocence and virtue through the insinuating 
wiles of selfishness and hypocrisy, would it be easy to 
point out his equal in force, simplicity, and pathos. But 
yet he was comparatively wanting in that peculiar kind 
of imaginative faculty which was so characteristic of 
Wordsworth's genius, and which nothing but a large 
endowment of the organ of Ideality can enable anyone 
to display. It is said that Crabbe's judgment held his 
imagination in check. But Wordsworth, also, possessed 
much judgment, and was characteristically reflective, yet 
the pure poetical temperament, which is the constant 
attendant upon a large development of the organ of 
Ideality, even when it is associated with but a small share 
of talent, was a distinctive peculiarity of his mind. The 
comparative want of prominence with regard to this 
mental characteristic in the style of Crabbe should there- 
fore be considered the result of a relatively moderate 
endowment of this faculty rather than of an ample one, 
controlled by a severe critical judgment. In every intel- 
lectual effort the predominant faculty is sure to hold a 
conspicuous position. Crabbe himself somewhere says — 

." We cannot Nature by our wishes rule, 
Nor, as we will, her warm emotions cool." 



318 IDEALITY. 

How admirably do the forms of the heads of these- 
highly distinguished poets accord with their intellectual 
manifestations. In both, the organs of the intellectual 
powers are largely developed, but in Wordsworth, as has 
been already stated, the organ of Ideality, which has a 
tendency to withdraw the mind from the habitual con- 
templation of the ordinary affairs of life, was very large, 
whilst in the head of Crabbe it is by no means charac- 
teristic. Yet Crabbe was a great poet. Lord Byron 
himself called him — 

" Nature's sternest painter, yet the best." 

And again he says — 

" With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope." 

As a striking contrast to the large and finely-balanced 
intellectual organs of Crabbe and his comparatively 
moderate Ideality may be adduced a cast of the head of 
a poor man named Fletcher. In this man the organ of 
Ideality was very protuberant, and he had rather quick 
powers of perception, but the organs of the reflective 
faculties were small. He contented himself with rhyth- 
mical descriptions of the contents of warehouses to suit 
the purpose of advertising tradesmen. 

Here are two marked instances which tend to prove 
that the degree of talent for poetry should not be pre- 
dicated from the presence of a large organ of Ideality 
alone, without paying attention to the general form of the 
head. But in the case of Fletcher, a strong fact is 
afforded in proof of its being the faculty which gives 
the poetical bias or tendency. And, had his mind been 
more contemplative, he would not, even in his necessities, 
have confined himself to such subjects as engaged his 



IDEALITY. 319 

attention. But even in these unfavourable subjects the 
disposition to embellish, to adorn with grace and beauty 
things paltry in their nature was evident. 

With regard to Crabbe it would be hazardous to affirm 
that such a genius as he could not write an imaginative 
and florid poem if he pleased, but, judging from the form 
of his head, such a mode of composition would not be 
natural to him. Nor would it be persevered in with 
satisfaction to himself. It was not his tendency to soar 
into the region of things visionary and conjectural. The 
saddest realities of life were the chosen subjects of his 
muse, of the peculiar strength of whose wing he in the 
uncommon clearness of his understanding formed an 
estimate, such as would be come to by a skilful Phreno- 
logist after a careful survey of the genuine cast of his 
head. 

The commanding influence of this faculty was strongly 
manifested in the writings and conversations of the poet 
Coleridge. And the organ, now under consideration, is 
very large in the genuine cast of his head. His intellec- 
tual characteristics differed much from those of 
"Wordsworth and of Crabbe. In the brilliancy of his 
poetical imaginings he far surpassed the latter ; but with 
all his great intellectual capacity he was not perhaps 
Crabbe's. equal in real knowledge of mankind, or in the 
ability to concentrate all his intellectual forces upon the 
points which were the most likely to illustrate or establish 
his purpose, so as to make others understand it. The 
absence of Coleridge's superb imagination left Crabbe's 
superior common sense unobstructed in the display of its 
power ; while its presence so abounding and gorgeously 
displayed by Coleridge, marred the worldly success which 
so great an intellect as he was endowed with could other- 



320 IDEALITY. 

wise scarcely fail to attain. In the forehead of Coleridge 
there are striking indications of a tendency to indulge in 
metaphysical speculations that are somewhat visionary 
and vague. 

The organ of Ideality is much larger in Reynold's 
portrait of Goldsmith than in the portraits of Dr. Johnson 
by the same great painter ; and there cannot be a question of 
Goldsmith's superiority as to poetical genius. Even his 
prose works are replete with that peculiar grace and 
elegance with which this sentiment when active is sure to 
invest every production of the mind. " Nihil tetigit quod 
non ornavit" was part of the glowing eulogy passed on 
him by Johnson himself; who, notwithstanding his great 
intellectual resources, both natural and acquired, and his 
extraordinary powers of composition, was not remarkable 
for the qualities which accompany an ample development 
of this organ. In the mask of his friend Edmund Burke, 
and also in the portraits of him, this organ is extremely 
prominent ; and the gorgeous manner in which this faculty 
displayed itself in his speeches and writings has contri- 
buted, with a surprisingly capacious intellect and noble 
sentiments, to place British eloquence on a par, at least, 
with the finest productions of Greece and Rome. In the 
masks of Pitt and Fox the organ is by no means so 
prominent as it is in Burke. It is very large in Chantrey's 
fine bust of John Philpot Curran and Lawrence's picture 
of him. In Nollekens' bust of Lord Erskine it is not 
salient, while in the bust, by the same artist, of Lord 
Mansfield the organ is very large. In accordance with 
phrenological laws we should expect to find the true 
poetical element pervading the speeches of Mansfield, 
Burke, and Curran much more profusely than those of 
Pitt, Fox, or Erskine. And such was undoubtedly the 



IDEALITY. 321 

case. Of Mansfield it was said by Pope, u How sweet 
an Ovid was in Murray lost." And Byron emphatically 
said, " Curran — Curran's the man ! I have heard him 
speak more poetry in an hour than I ever read or 
heard." 

Hence it is manifest that neither rhyme nor metre are 
necessary for the display of poetical ideas ; although the 
musical cadences of verse heighten their effect and are 
best adapted for their display. In a prose version of the 
writings of Shakespeare, Spenser, or Milton we should not 
be at a loss to discover the u Disjecta membra poetce." It 
is this faculty pervading the " Telemachus " of Fenelon that 
has entitled it to rank among the most admired epic 
poems. It cast a lustre of grace and beauty around his 
amiable and noble sentiments. And in natural accordance 
with this fact, we find the portraits of this ornament of 
human nature, engraved by Audran, Drevet, and Fiquet, 
from two different pictures by Yivien, that the organ of 
the poetical sentiment was one of his most marked 
cerebral characteristics. 

This organ is strikingly developed in Chaucer, the 
father of English poetry. He was pronounced by Hazlitt, 
an excellent critic, to be one of the four greatest poets of 
England, and Sir James Macintosh considered him, if not 
the greatest poet, at least the greatest poetical genius, 
with the single exception of Dante, that had appeared 
since the days of Lucretius. It is a marked feature in 
the portraits of Sir Philip Sydney, whom Queen Elizabeth 
called the " jewel of her time," and in those of Henry 
Howard, Earl of Surrey, the gallant victim of her 
tyrannical, pitiless father. Surrey was the best poet of 
his time, and the first refiner of English verse. Sydney 
was celebrated for the tender gracefulness of his writings 

A A 



322 IDEALITY. 

and the poetical cast of his ideas, which showed itself in 
all his actions. It is large in Vertue's print of Spenser, 
and in the little profile of Ariosto, by Enea Vico, from a 
contemporary medallion by Doni, the organ of Ideality 
is very large. The same part of the head is immensely 
developed in the mask of Tasso, taken after death. And 
it is only necessary to glance at the masks of Canova and 
Flaxman, when side by side with those of Cromwell and 
Napoleon, in order to see where the spirit of poetry was 
most abundantly bestowed. Not that there was any 
marked deficiency of the organ in either of the latter. 
But it was not a characteristic feature. In Faithhorne's 
and Vertue's prints of Milton the organ of Ideality is 
largely developed. 

The same part of the head is extremely protuberant in 
the only portraits of Shakspeare that have any pretensions 
to authenticity, namely, the old print by Martin Droeshout, 
published in 1623, which was highly commended by Ben 
Johnson, and the monumental bust at Stratford-on-Avon, 
which, according to Leonard Digges, was a well-known 
object seven years after the poet's death. 

In all those men, who in the absence of every advantage 
of birth and education have gained considerable poetical 
reputation, the organ of Ideality is characteristically 
salient. Such is the case in Bloomfield, the Suffolk shoe- 
maker poet, in Clare, the peasant poet of Northampton- 
shire, in Elliott, the corn-law rhymer, in Hogg, the Ettrick 
shepherd. And it is very large in the scull of Eobert 
Burns, the prince of peasant poets. It is large also in 
the authentic portrait of Carolan, the last of the Irish 
bards. But in this case the organ of music shines out 
with paramount lustre, while in the scull of Burns that of 
Ideality is much more conspicuous than that of music. 



IDEALITY. 323 

And does not this fact agree exactly with their character- 
istic tendencies and powers of mind ? Carolan, as a lyric 
poet, must yield the palm of excellence to Burns, though 
many of his compositions in that line are marked by 
great tenderness and sympathising, unselfish warmth of 
attachment, and sometimes by a sprightly, mirth -inspiring 
humour, which was calculated to delight all without 
wounding the feelings of the most sensitive. Burns, on 
the other hand, never evinced any genius for music, and 
cannot, therefore, in respect to that charming art be 
put in competition with so rare and original a musical 
composer as Carolan. In this attribute Burns falls far 
short also of Thomas Moore. And it is a palpable fact 
that the organ of music is much more developed in the 
plaster cast of the face of Ireland's great lyric poet than 
in the cast of the scull of that pride of Scotland's bards. 
But in the mental constitution of the latter Ideality 
formed the dominant ingredient, and it imbued all the 
others with its own yearning after the beautiful in every- 
thing. Still he was not Moore's equal in the charming 
variety of exquisite musical versification in which the 
Irish melodies are enshrined. Yet, to judge by the 
comparative saliency of Ideality in the scull of Burns, 
it should be inferred that he was still more than Moore 
under the imperative influence of the spirit of poetry, 
though he can hardly be said to cope with him in brilliancy 
of fancy or the exquisite beauty of his similitudes and 
metaphors. In the poetry of the feelings it would be 
hard to point out the compeer of either. And it may 
not be straying too far from the region of Ideality to pass 
on to that of the social and domestic affections in order 
to notify here the exact accordance that is found to exist 
in the case of both these poets between the passionate 

A A 2 



324 IDEALITY. 

warmth of these feelings and the paramount development 
of their respective organs. 

The contrast between the sculls of Burns and Swift 
is very marked, for Ideality is only of moderate size in 
the latter. And, notwithstanding the great genius of 
" The Dean," his mind was not imbued with a refined 
sense of the beautiful in poetry. No doubt it was the 
want of this attribute in his Pindaric odes which caused 
Dryden to say, " Cousin Swift, you will never be a 
poet." Swift, however, has written a great deal of 
poetry, and it has been pronounced by good judges to 
be admirable of its kind. But it is of an humble kind. 
Yet liveliness, fertility, and originality of imagination, 
were striking features of his mental character. But from 
want of that enthusiastic sense of the beautiful, by which 
such poets as Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, Tasso, Ariosto,. 
and Dante were inspired, he had no internal monitor 
prompting him to illumine his literary path with a light 
similar to that which has shed such radiant splendour 
over theirs. 

In the cast of the scull of Swift's beloved friend, Pope, 
the organ of Ideality is finely developed. But yet it is 
not so salient, in relation to the surrounding ones, as it 
is in the scull of Burns. This is not because Pope's 
forehead is larger than Burns, for in reality it is not 
either so high or so broad, but because that organ is^ 
so harmoniously proportioned to those of the intellectual 
faculties in Pope, by means of the intermediate organ 
of Wit, which is one of rare prominence in the scull of 
that great satirist. And certainly in the nicely-acljusted 
equipoise of the intellectual organs the advantage is with 
Pope. In this characteristic it would not be easy to 
meet with his compeer, much less his superior. And, 



IDEALITY. 325 

when these outward symbols of the talent of bringing 
the ideas with facility into harmonious and concentrated 
association are in him supported by a powerful but not 
redundant organ of Language, it is not surprising to find 
that he had gained a reputation in his early childhood 
for literary precocity. But the kind of literature to 
which he instinctively devoted himself was owing to the 
genial promptings of a superior organ of Ideality. And 
it will not be altogether irrelevant here to add that the 
spirit of overwhelming satire, in which he so often revelled, 
and in the galling outbursts of which he stands almost 
without a rival, may be traced to the dominancy of his 
salient organ of Wit, when excited by a well-developed 
organ of Combativeness, after these had been aroused 
to anger by wounded self-esteem and love of approbation, 
the organs of which are highly characteristic features 
of the head of Pope. And it should be observed that 
there is not to be found in his scrdl such a dominant 
indication as that which Burns' displays of the presence of 
that glowing sense of benevolence which rendered the 
character of the latter so lovable. 

The organ of Ideality is a prominent feature in the 
antique bust of Horace ; and it is gratifying and instructive 
to find that between the form of his forehead and Pope's 
there is a close similarity. And do not the admirable 
satires and moral epistles of each afford striking evidence 
of their intellectual affinities ? But the forehead of this 
great Roman poet is rather more expanded. And if they 
are pretty nearly of equal size in the region of Ideality, 
the advantage with respect to that of melody is on the side 
of Horace ; whose great ambition it was to clothe his 
thoughts and feelings in the fascinating garb of lyric 
verse. And though he failed to strike out of the glowing 



326 IDEALITY. 

furnace of Lis imagination the dithyrambic fire, which 
was so germane to the lofty genius of his pattern, the 
rapturous Pindar, yet he has always been called the Prince 
of Roman lyric poets. 

It will not perhaps be thought unduly digressive to 
notice here, that in this antique head of Horace there 
are uncommon indications of a most genial, unselfish, 
affectionate, graceful disposition, that was truly unambi- 
tious either of wealth or power. His beautiful ode, 
commencing thus " Hoc erat in votis" is charmingly 
enunciative of this. 

In the bust of Pindar, himself, Ideality is extraor- 
dinarily developed, and Melody or Tune is prominently 
characteristic. In his head are also to be seen the outward 
emblems of a character in which a deep sense of reverence 
for what is great and noble is happily commingled with 
manliness. Ideality is very large in iEschylus, the eldest 
of the three great tragic poets of Greece. In his head the 
region of the organs of Veneration and Wonder are also 
developed to an extraordinary degree. The instinctive 
force of the last-named organ prompted him to invest 
the phenomena, which his genius delighted to depict, with 
supernatural attributes; and the beauty and appalling 
grandeur, with which they were imbued were owing to 
the paramount strength of that organ, when rendered still 
more intense by a most elevated sense of poetic beauty, 
imparted by dominant Ideality. Combined with a fine 
development of the moral region of the head, there is in 
the bust of Euripides also a very salient organ of Ideality. 
In him the reflective organs, Comparison and Causality, 
were strikingly characteristic, while Individuality and 
Eventuality, though adequately developed for most uses, 
were subordinate to Causality and Comparison. Hence 



IDEALITY. 327 

it should be inferred that JEschylus, in whom the percep- 
tive organs just named were of immense size, would be 
more a man of action, and that Euripides would be more 
a man of contemplation. ' The former would be more 
instinctively alive to the phenomena of the external world 
and the actual doings of men, the latter would be more 
disposed to search out the hidden causes of phenomena 
and the motives which govern human actions. 

Sophocles, like his great rivals, was endowed with a 
very fine development of Ideality ; but the form of his 
forehead partakes of the character of each ; though it is 
not so salient as either in the parts that most strikingly 
characterise them. From this it would be inferred that 
he was less influenced by the phenomenal world than 
JEschylus, and less philosophically sceptical than Euripides. 
The moral region of the head is large in all of them, but 
in iEschylus the animal portion is large, while it is mode- 
rate in Euripides. Sophocles also had more of the animal 
organs than his younger competitor, and in him there are 
indications of a courageous energy, as well as tenderness 
of feeling. But the cerebral marks of grandeur and 
sublimity of genius lies with iEschylus ; while the rapid 
current of his conceptions was not so much under the 
restraint of method, as would be the case with Sophocles 
and Euripides. 

In the bust of Theocritus there is a very large organ of 
Ideality, and it is blended so harmoniously with the organs 
of the intellectual faculties and Wit in front, and with 
large Imitation, Benevolence, Marvellousness, and Vene- 
ration, which lie above it, that it would be hard to find a 
head superior to it in gracefulness of contour. In this 
head of Theocritus there are striking cerebral indications of 
gentle, compassionate, respectful, affectionate dispositions, 



328 IDEALITY. 

without being in the slightest degree alloyed by selfish- 
ness. And to enhance the inherent beauty of these 
mental qualities, there was diffused through the whole of 
them that sense of the beautiful, which is the abstract 
essence of poetry, and which depended for its manifes- 
tation upon the presence of his salient organ of Ideality. 
The forehead is in this instance very high ; and the reflec- 
tive organs are characteristic features. But, though those 
of the perceptive faculties are good and harmoniously 
balanced, the Individuality and Eventuality were not 
large enough to induce him to quit scenes of repose and 
tranquillity, in order to join the strife and turmoil which 
all must go through who devote their lives to public 
affairs. 

What a contrast there is in respect [to the size, both ab- 
solute and relative, of the organs of Ideality, Individuality, 
and Eventuality, between the heads of Theocritus and 
Demosthenes ! In the busts and statues of the greatest of 
Grecian orators, Ideality is but of moderate size, while 
the other two organs are exceedingly large. And can 
there be pointed out two other great men, in all the range 
of history, whose intellectual attributes were more un- 
like than theirs? How far inferior, too, in development 
is the region of Ideality in the powerful head of the 
unpoetic Zeno, the great stoic philosopher, as compared 
with that of Plato, the intrinsic grace of whose virtuous 
aspirations was enhanced by his exalted sense of that 
abstract ideal beauty which it was in the power of his 
large organ of Ideality to communicate. 

But this beautiful element of the human mind is not 
dependent upon words alone for its elucidation. It finds 
its way to the heart and soul through the painter's brush, 
the sculptor's modelling tool, and the musician's symbolic 



IDEALITY. 329 

notes, as well as through the pen, when these instruments 
are swayed by men of genius. And, accordingly, it is a 
prominent feature in the portraits of Correggio, Raphael, 
Michael Angelo, and all those artists who have excelled in 
the highest line of art. It is to be seen illumining the 
enchanting landscapes of the inimitable Claude Lorraine. 
The refining influence of this faculty over the imaginations 
of Turner, which sometimes led that great painter into 
extravagant flights in striving to approach the glowing 
tints of nature's brightest hues, is to be seen to great advan- 
tage in his noble picture of the " Sun rising in a Mist," 
a picture that entitles him to almost as high a niche in 
the classic ' temple of fame as the one so surely occupied 
by Claude himself. And still more purely and abstract- 
edly is its influence felt at the sight of his charming 
landscape, called " Crossing the Brook." But it is in his 
beautiful " Fighting Temaraire," that the paramount 
influence of " Ideality " over his artistic attributes dis- 
plays itself without transcending the precincts of nature. 
In his Ulysses and Polyphemus its presence, as a promi- 
nent element of his mental constitution, is still more 
magnificently depicted. But here are splendid indications 
of his having been then actuated by inspirations issuing 
from a deep sense of the wonderful or the supernatural, 
the organ of which, like that of Ideality, is a prominent 
feature in a posthumous plaster mask of this eccentric 
man of genius. 

In the head of that charming landscape painter, Danby, 
Ideality was very salient; and in looking at some of his 
most characteristic works you seem to breathe the dreamy 
atmosphere of poetry. The fertile genius of Maclise is 
deeply imbued with this mental quality; and, in a fine 
mask of him in plaster, the organ with which that 



330 IDEALITY. 

attribute is incorporated is uncommonly large ; and it is 
also very salient in that fine painter, Herbert. 

In all the great masters of music this region of the 
head is strikingly developed. And this their busts and 
portraits amply testify. In the cast of Mendelssohn 
Bartholdy's head the organ is remarkable prominent. It 
is not a striking characteristic in the cast of Moschelles, 
the eminent pupil and biographer of Beethoven; while 
his " all-feeling " master was himself endowed with it in 
a rare degree. It is large also in the mask from nature 
of Weber. 

Notwithstanding the quantity of evidence already 
adduced, the interest attaching to a few celebrated names 
of our own country will sanction their introduction here 
as satisfactory examples, both positively and negatively, 
of the truth of Gall's doctrine regarding the function of 
the cerebral region now under consideration. 

Let, for instance, any one of the engraved portraits of 
Edmund Burke be compared with Sharpe's fine engraving 
of his acute and plausible antagonist, in regard to the 
natural " Rights of Man," Thomas Paine, and it cannot 
fail to be seen that the cerebral region which is situated in 
the upper portion of the temple is very large in the former 
and only of moderate size in the latter. In the cast taken 
after death of Jeremy Bentham, it is but poorly developed ; 
while in that of William Godwin it is uncommonly salient. 
And is not the absence of the poetic sentiment a singular 
feature of the mental constitution of the renowned patriarch 
of utilitarianism : and, on the contrary, was it not a copious 
element of the mind of the famous author of Caleb Williams 
and St. Leon? It is very conspicuous in the head of 
Lord Macaulay. It is not so in that of his very eminent 
friend, Sir James Mc'Intosh, whose singularly expanded 



IDEALITY. 331 

and harmoniously balanced forehead, while it affords pal- 
pable evidence of the true greatness of his talents, also 
shews the truth of the adage — poeta nascitur nonfit. And, 
on the contrary, does not a fine vein of poetry run through 
all that Macaulay has written. Or let the portrait of Lord 
Brougham, engraved by Walker, after Lawrence's fine 
picture of that wonderful man, be compared with those 
of George Canning, after pictures by the same eminent 
painter, and the superiority of development, with respect to 
the region of Ideality in the head of Canning is recogni- 
sable at a glance. 

Notwithstanding that, in some respects, the intellectual 
development of Lord Plunkett was much superior even to 
that of Henry Grattan, yet the latter was endowed with a 
finer relative development of this organ. Those who have 
seen O'Connell and Shiel together, could not but admit 
that the intellectual region in the head of the former was 
far superior to that of the latter, while to Shiel would be 
awarded pre-eminence in regard to the development of 
the organ of the Sense of Poetry. And are not these cere- 
bral peculiarities quite in accordance with the oratorical 
characteristics of those great advocates of Catholic eman- 
cipation. Y et, notwithstanding the superior brilliancy of 
Shiel, he fell far short of O'Connell' s range of intellectual 
power, and was by no means his equal in fertility of mental 
resources in perilous emergencies. And it may not be 
irrelevant to observe that 0' Council's fine forehead was 
remarkably emblematic of these rare talents ; as well as 
of intellectual industry in his labour of love which never 
seemed to be affected by a sense of lassitude, till towards 
the close, when the energies of his over-wrought brain 
gradually gave way, owing to the softening of it. 

It is well to say here, that the peculiar form of head 



332 IDEALITY. 

which is accompanied by powers of unabating and un- 
swerving intellectual assiduity has been already pointed 
out when treating of the faculty of intellectual concen- 
tration. 

The effect of a superior endowment of the organ of 
Ideality is inauspicious, when the organs of the intellect 
are so ill-balanced as to create discord in the association 
of the ideas. And this is especially the case when the 
upper part of the forehead is excessively large, while the 
lower portion of it is but poorly developed. According 
to the measure of this inharmonious discrepancy of form 
there will exist a dreamy neglect of the necessary affairs 
of life, or such preposterous eccentricity as characterised 
a patient of the Salpetriere, of whose brain, scull, and 
head, diagrams are given in Plate 7. This woman, whose 
name was Maunier, was disposed to give vent to extrava- 
gant poetical ideas. But when she attempted to compose, 
then she was so affected by the inordinate action of her 
faculties, that her exalted notions ended in the ravings 
of insanity. This woman rejoiced in the conviction that 
she was the betrothed of the great Napoleon. And to 
the entertaining of this fancy she was impelled by the 
suggestions of a strong amatory propensity, the presence 
of which is seen in the largeness of her cerebellum, and 
by great pride, which was owing to the relatively promi- 
nent development of a morbidly active self-esteem. 

Very opposite to this was the case of Sestini, the 
celebrated improvisatore, who died in Paris of inflam- 
mation of the brain. In him Ideality was finely developed. 
But it was so harmoniously blended with the organs 
of the intellect, of which those that principally serve 
to concentrate and arrange the thoughts were in him 
very large, and were, moreover, so beautifully pro- 



IDEALITY. 333 

portioned that he became distinguished for the rare faculty 
of giving unpremeditated expression to poetical imagin- 
ings, even in the form of rythmical numbers (see 
Plate 7.) 

The series of diagrams of these two singular and very 
opposite characters are interesting examples of the perfect 
coincidence of certain forms of the head with special 
mental faculties, in accordance with the laws of cerebral 
physiology discovered by Gall. And not only this, for 
they also afford undeniable evidence of the complete 
accordance existing between the development of the head 
and of the brain within it. And do not they shew, also, in 
a palpable manner, the futility of the objection in regard 
to the frontal sinus so often put forward as a fatal barrier 
to the useful appliance of Phrenology towards the delinea- 
tion of character ? 

The sentiment of Ideality, when it forms an active 
ingredient of the mind, and is associated with a high 
moral sense and warm social affections, is obviously con- 
ducive to happiness. But still it often proves a fertile 
source of discomfort, by rendering men so constituted 
dissatisfied with the occurrences of life, which usually fall 
far short of the standard of ideal excellence which it is 
the essential nature of this faculty to engender. For this 
sentiment gives the capacity for clothing with a garb of 
transcendent lustre forms that are even in themselves 
beautiful. It invests the reminiscences of early days 
with the bloom and verdure which charmed us in the 
spring-time of our hopes. It assists benevolence in ren- 
dering even charity itself more amiable and interesting, 
and under its influence hardhearted selfishness and grovel- 
ling sensuality lose much of their asperity and grossness. 
But though it thus tends to abate the atrocities of vice, 



334 IDEALITY. 

and in a high degree enhances the charms of virtue, still 
it can hardly be placed within the sphere of the purely 
moral sentiments. It is, however, a powerful auxiliary, 
because the love of abstract beauty and perfection is its 
specific attribute. It must, therefore, be an essential 
element in the composition of a true poet's mind. But 
the character of a poem and the manner in which it is 
constructed depend upon the way in which the senti- 
ments, feelings, and intellectual faculties are associated 
and balanced. 

When in combination with musical talent, with warm 
and energetic social affections and lofty sentimental 
aspirations, it gives rise to the exquisite lyrical effusions 
of Moore. Combined with dominant reflective faculties, 
high moral sentiments and less ardent passions, it pro- 
duces a genius like Wordsworth, whose lyrical efforts, 
though eminently poetical, are found by some competent 
judges to be wanting in the glowing ardour of the passions 
by which the poems of Moore are so essentially charac- 
terised, but whose moral and philosophical poetry, which 
is sweetened with so much social and compassionate 
tenderness, entitles him to rank as one of the greatest 
poets of his time. When united with a pensive thought- 
fulness, elevated sympathies, and warm affections, it 
characterises the poems and inspiring songs of Campbell. 
The chivalrous highmindedness, the purity of sentiment, 
and the warmth of attachment which spread a romantic 
charm over the writings of Scott, and the presence of 
which attribute is indicated by the form of his singularly 
lofty head, had their inherent beauty enhanced by Ideality. 
Yet his cast from nature does not exhibit the superior 
prominence at the upper part of the temple, which is the 
constant characteristic of the greatest of poets. But it 



IDEALITY. 335 

had a wide surface for the convolutions of this organ to 
become expanded in, owing to the surprising height of his 
head. Still the glow of enthusiasm, which pervades the 
tender and romantic imaginings of Scott, owed most of 
its brightness and warmth to the intrinsic strength of the 
primitive feelings themselves. For virtuous aspirations 
are truly beautiful, even when divested of the enchanting 
hues of poetry. But yet these render their form and 
complexion still more fascinating. And though it were 
vain to "gild the rose or throw perfume on the violet," 
yet the quality of mercy itself may be invested with 
additional charms through the promptings of the spirit of 
poetry. It was in this beautiful faculty of the human 
mind that the great and fertile and varied genius of Scott 
was wanting, as compared with that of Shakespeare, whom 
he resembles in the dramatic character of his mind. And, 
as has been already noticed, the only trustworthy portraits 
of Shakespeare now in existence, namely, the print by 
Martin Droeshout and the monumental bust at Stratford- 
■ on -Avon, possess an extraordinary development of the 
organ of Ideality. In Scott, the organ of Marvellousness 
was very large, and its influence was felt more strongly 
by him than that of Ideality. 

Is it to the influence of this faculty we are to attribute 
the fact that those poets who possessed it in an eminent 
degree w ere the earliest refiners of language? Not that 
they enjoyed, perhaps, a greater share of intellect, or 
greater fluency of expression than some philosophers and 
historians ; but that they were endowed with a greater 
relative amount of that sentiment, which renders the action 
of all the other faculties more refined. 

The part which this faculty plays in the workings of a 
poet's mind was well understood and accurately described 



336 IDEALITY. 

by Gall, for he says, " It requires a peculiar and proper 
power to animate all the others with the sacred fire of 
Apollo." And though he at first named it the " Talent 
for Poetry," his writings plainly shew that he considered 
it to be the organ of the Spirit of Poetry. And it can be 
scrupulously averred that the local position of this organ 
of Ideality is as truly ascertained as the separate existence 
of the faculty itself. 

It is well to observe, in conclusion, that the joyous 
temper which accompanies a predominance of this organ, 
and especially when it is associated with salient organs 
of Hope and Benevolence, and moderate ones of Caution 
and Acquisitiveness, would undoubtedly tend to render the 
sedulous and methodical pursuit of duties somewhat irk- 
some. But this unlucky tendency will be found to grow 
with accelerated speed, if there be a head thus organized, 
that has but a poor development of the organs of Time 
and Order. These two should therefore be cultivated with* 
the greatest care in such cases, at the time of childhood, 
when the brain is plastic, for their effectual co-operation is 
indispensable to the future independence and happiness of 
every one. 



WIT-MIRTHFULNESS. 



Having in the last essay endeavoured to ascertain the 
nature and source of the faculty which enables us to 
embellish all our intellectual delineations with the bright 
hues of poetry, and which imparts the poetical bias, even 
where the capacity of producing poetry is denied, and to 
shew that it should be deemed a primitive faculty ; and 
having also demonstrated by many affirmative and 
negative proofs, taken from nature, that the amount of 
its power depends upon the actual, and still more on the 
relative development of a certain part of the brain, which 
is situated in the temples, I shall next attempt to point 
out the real function of an organ which lies immediately 
in front of that of Ideality. 

Dr. Grail observed that persons remarkable for what is 
called Wit, either in writing or conversation, had the 
superior lateral parts of the forehead very full and 
rounded. He says, "This faculty considers objects under 
a point of view altogether peculiar, finds in them relations 
altogether peculiar, and presents them in a manner 
altogether peculiar, which constitutes what is called salt, 
causticity, and sometimes naivete.'''' Aud again he says, 
" When this organisation predominates it carries with 
it an irresistible propensity to ridicule everything, to 
spare neither friend nor brother." . . . He then cites 
numerous cases to prove the correctness of his opinion, 

B B 



'6o8 WIT. 

and concludes by saying, " It is therefore no longer 
permitted to doubt that this talent is indicated by 
the organisation which I have described. The manner 
in which it manifests itself, whether by offensive sar- 
casms or by jests without bitterness, the choice of its 
subjects, etc., all this depends on the greater or less 
development of other organs." 

Wit may be bitter and ill-natured, or playful, and 
devoid of sarcasm. It cannot, then, be an emanation from 
a single faculty, since no one power of the mind can be 
productive of opposite functions. The term, wit, does 
not, therefore, properly designate the abstract nature 
of this power. 

To be witty requires the simultaneous and ready action 
of several faculties, but the tendency to excite those 
faculties to witty and ludicrous associations of ideas 
depends upon a single mental attribute, which has its 
own appropriate organ in the brain. And as no amount 
of intellect will enable one to shine as a poet of the 
highest class without an ample endowment of the organ 
of Ideality, so will it be impossible for any amount of 
perceptive and reflective talent to render an individual 
remarkable as a wit or humourist without a considerable 
share of the organ which causes us to rejoice in ludicrous 
and laughable intellectual combinations. On the other 
hand, these two organs may be possessed in an eminent 
degree without imparting the talent for arraying subjects 
in the garb of poetry or of wit. Some persons excite 
mirthful emotions not by the exhibition of intellectual 
flashes of wit or humour, but by placing their subject 
in a ludicrous point of view. Nor is the effect produced 
much impaired by the absence of intellectuality in the 
grotesque performances of some hair-brained individuals, 



wit. 339 

the laughter-moving effect of whose antics are not at 
all diminished by their ridiculousness. 

A sense of the ludicrous would seem to be a special 
function of this organ of Wit, as Gall has named it, just 
as the sense of the beautiful is an essential attribute of 
the organ of Poetry, so designated by the same great 
authority. 

Dr. Spurzheim named it the organ of Mirthfulness 
and Gayness, and certainly gay and mirthful emotions 
always accompany ludicrous intellectual manifestations. 
Yet it must be admitted that some individuals, whose 
works abound in ludicrous descriptions, have not evinced, 
at least publicly, much gaiety or mirthfulness of dispo- 
sition. Peter Pindar (Dr. Walcot) is said to have been 
morose and heavy in company, and the author of 
" Hudibras " required, it is said, the stimulus of ardent 
spirits or wine to render him an agreeable companion. 
Swift was seldom seen to smile, and his manners were 
not characterised by mirthfulness or gaiety. Curran, who 
delighted every company he moved in by the frequent 
play of brilliant corruscations of wit and humour, was 
habitually of a desponding temper. And Liston, who 
succeeded beyond any man of. his time in creating 
laughter by the drollery of his histrionic efforts, was 
known to be habitually grave. Nevertheless, this faculty 
creates a tendency to be mirthful and gay, and the droll, 
fantastic light it elicits, even from trivial things, seems 
to have been given for the purpose of illumining, and 
dispersing the gloom which melancholy sometimes spreads 
around us in our progress through life. To the de- 
sponding poetical temperament of Curran, it must have 
acted as a salutary corrective. And it was this faculty 
enabled the amiable and melancholy Cowper to dissolve, 

B B 2 



340 wit. 

for a time, the mists of despondency, which sometimes 
obscured the brightness of his understanding, when he 
composed his John Gilpin, which is looked upon as one 
of the most humorous pieces in the language. In the 
portraits of those whose names have been adduced, the 
superior lateral part of the forehead, which is the seat of 
the organ of the sense of the ludicrous, is very salient. 

No one can excel as a caricaturist without a rich endow- 
ment of this organ ; and the portrait of Gilray, who still 
remains almost unrivalled in this species of art, exhibits a 
large development of it. And in the forehead of that 
admirable painter of manners in their most humorous and 
amusing phases, John Leach, the superior outer angle of 
his broad forehead is very prominent. And in the fine 
terra cotta bust of Hogarth, by Rubilliac, this organ is very 
salient. 

But it may be objected that writers on Phrenology, of 
eminence, have stated that the organ is not well marked in 
the mask of Curran. Mr. Combe himself was, I believe, 
of this opinion. And, lest the fact should militate against 
the establishment of the organ, he is disinclined to allow 
that Curran possessed genuine wit and humour. I shall 
not, now, attempt to gainsay this opinion by adducing 
specimens of those multifarious emanations of Curran's 
genius, which were deemed by his most enlightened co- 
temporaries in the highest degree witty and laughter- 
moving, but content myself with stating the opinion of 
one or two competent judges. 

A friend having, one day, observed to John Home 
Tooke, that he considered him, Tooke, the wittiest man in 
the kingdom ; he replied " No, there is, at all events, one 
wittier man, and that is John Philpot Curran." Tooke, 
on another occasion, being asked which he considered the 



wit. 341 

wittier man, Sheridan or Curran ? said, " The wit of 
Sheridan is like polished steel, cut and fashioned for the occa- 
sion ; Curran's is like gold-dust flowing in inexhaustible and 
unpremeditated profusion." And the author of" Sketches 
of Irish Political Characters," in the year 1799, thus 
writes, " He (Curran) has equal power to elicit tears 
from the softness of sensibility, or extort from gravity 
itself the roar of laughter." 

" He abounds in wit, flashing with reiterated strokes, 
and almost with the rapidity of elementary fire ; its corrus- 
cations gild the gloom of debate." 

His powers of sarcasm, too, were of the very highest 
order ; and he was, perhaps never surpassed in the power 
of instantaneously transfixing an adversary with the un- 
erring shafts of withering ridicule. 

Mr. Combe grounds his opinion upon the published 
speeches and sayings of Curran. But, it should be recol- 
lected, that his cotemporaries have said that these give 
but a very inadequate notion of the splendour of his 
eloquence or the brilliancy of his wit. 

Taking the same authority as a criterion, an acute 
observer has said, that the recorded wit of Curran (and 
it was said in disparagement of his ability in that respect) 
was not like that of Sterne, in whose head the organ of Wit 
was pronounced to be very large. Granted; neither is 
the poetry of Wordsworth like that of Byron ; although 
they were both endowed with the organ of Poetry, or 
Ideality, in an eminent degree. And the cause is obvious. 
Their heads differed exceedingly, as to form, in almost 
every other respect. So may Sterne and Curran have 
been possessed of an ample share of the primitive faculty, 
now under consideration, and yet have differed widely in 
their mode of applying it, in consequence of an essential 



342 wit. 

disparity in the relative development of other powers, 
which are indispensable agents in giving a special direc- 
tion to this faculty. 

Here, perhaps, the opponents of Phrenology will 
exclaim, Oh ! we agree with you in your estimate of 
Curran's wit, but take leave to remind you that you are 
demolishing the fantastic abode raised by the inventive 
powers of Gall for the reception of the genius of jollity 
and laughter. For Combe says, that the organ which 
he supposes to be that of a sense of the ludicrous is 
scarcely full in the mask of Curran. 

Undoubtedly, the opinion of Mr. Combe is entitled to 
the highest respect as an authority in this matter. But 
from what I know personally of his benevolent and unpre- 
tending disposition, I feel persuaded that he was the last 
man who would lay claim to infallibility, or underrate, 
much less ignore, the judgment of other practical observers. 
Now, to me the organ of Wit is decidedly large in the 
original mask of Curran. I have compared it carefully 
with casts from nature of men remarkable for the mental 
qualities attributed to this organ, and I have found it 
superior to most of them. It is larger in this mask of 
Curran than in those of John Wilks, Home Tooke, and 
R. B. Sheridan, although the organ is very full and 
rounded in each of these. It is less marked in the 
posthumous cast of the Rev. Rowland Hill than in the mask 
of Curran, though the part is remarkably developed in 
Rowland Hill's cast. In the mask of the great comedian 
Elliston, this organ bears a great resemblance to that of 
Curran, when viewed in its relation to the neighbouring 
organs. In Curran the forehead was remarkably high 
and exceedingly full in the centre, which embraces the 
organs of Individuality, Eventuality, and Comparison. 



wit. 343 

Such a combination of organs gives a rounded appearance 
to the forehead ; and this causes the superior lateral part, 
which is the seat of the organ of Wit, to be less conspicu- 
ous, than if the forehead were somewhat square, as it is 
in the fine bust of Sterne by Nollekens. And here it may 
be right to say that the organ of Wit is extremely 
protuberant in this bust, as well as in the fine print of 
Sterne by Fisher, after Sir J. Reynolds. And it is worthy 
of remark that if the eye be carried upwards from the 
organ of Music, in the mask of Curran, that of Wit, 
which lies immediately above it, will be found to be very 
salient, nothwithstanding the presence of a fair develop- 
ment of the organ of Music. 

In order the better to comprehend the value of the 
estimation in which the wit of Curran was held by his 
cotemporaries it is, perhaps, desirable to enquire, briefly, 
into this peculiar manifestation of mind. 

Dr. Johnson says in the " Rambler," " Wit being an 
unexpected copulation of ideas, the discovery of some 
occult relations between images in appearance remote from 
each other. An effusion of wit, therefore, presupposes 
an accumulation of knowledge ; a memory stored with 
notions, which the imagination may call out to compose 
new assemblages. Whatever may be the native vigour of 
the mind, she can never form many combinations from few 
ideas ; as many changes can never be rung upon a few 
bells." 

Now, the form of brain which enables one to accumu- 
late knowledge and store the memory with notions was 
possessed by Curran in an eminent degree. He had large 
perceptive organs. Eventuality, Individuality, and Lan- 
guage were very 'large. This combination enabled him to 
acquire a vast amount of miscellaneous knowledge, to 



344 wit. 

compare and select facts, and to express his thoughts with 
great fluency. And we accordingly find that the author of 
the " Sketches " before alluded to, says, (i His mind was 
stored with a variety of useful and entertaining knowledge ; 
his matter is always drawn from an abundant source, and 
is always happily selected." Curran also possessed a very 
large organ of Comparison, and this, with the perceptive 
powers already adverted to, conferred on him the talent of 
rapidly discovering " some occult relation between images 
in appearance remote from each other." 

Hence it would seem that a capacity for readily drawing 
remote and unexpected analogies from objects which, in 
most respects, differ widely from each other, and which 
Dr. Johnson considers the essence of Wit, arises from an 
ample endowment of the intellectual organs generally, but 
especially of Individuality, Eventuality, Comparison, and 
Language, combined with an adequate share of Causality, 
without being under the necessity of waiting for the aid of 
any special organ of Wit, of gaiety, or of a sense of the 
ludicrous. And, indeed, this will not be deemed strange, 
when it is considered that the most finished strokes of wit 
are not always those that cause laughter, by exciting a sense 
of the ludicrous or the mirthful. 

But, the drawing of comparison between objects which not 
only differ widely from each other, but are, at the same time, 
so opposite in their nature, that the making of any compa- 
rison at all between them, carries with it the idea of 
ridiculousness ; and when such incongruous analogies are 
sought after, and dwelt on with pleasure when they 
instinctively present themselves, it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that a peculiar power must exist to give rise to 
such a bias of the mind. And since there can be no 
doubt of the separate existence of a sense of the beautiful 



wit. 345 

and the wonderful, it would, indeed, be to curtail the fair 
proportions of nature to deny that there exists, also, a sense 
of the ludicrous, and if it is a fact that the two former powers 
are accompanied by appropriate organs, one can have but 
little hesitation in seeing the necessity of this faculty 
being also provided with a special, appropriate organ. 

Now, with respect to Curran, it is not only quite certain 
that he possessed, in an eminent degree, the faculty of 
rapidly tracing resemblances between things differing 
widely from each other in their general features, but that 
he was also remarkable for imbuing such analogies with 
the hue of drollery and ridicule. This power he frequently 
manifested by a play upon words, a mode of displaying wit 
which it has become the fashion with many to undervalue 
and reject. Yet it is true that the power of manifesting a 
quick appreciation of remote analogies, and of giving these 
comparisons a ludicrous colouring, may be successfully 
evinced by a well applied play upon words. 

One of Cumin's sallies in this way just now occurs to 
me. He was one evening surrounded at a great ball by 
a group of ladies and gentlemen, when his attention was 
arrested by a .lady inquiring who a young man was that 
happened at the time to be cutting a conspicuous figure 
by the elegance of his dress and the foppery of his manner* 
" Oh," said Curran, "he is just returned from his 
travels." " No," observed another, " he has never been 
out of this city." " You are mistaken," said Curran, 
"he is lately come from Pultusk." This young man 
was the son of a dentist in Dublin. 

Now here was a very rapid perception of resemblance 
between two things as different from one another in their 
nature as it is possible for any two things to be, namely, 
the drawing of a tooth and a town in Poland. This, 



346 wit. 

according to Johnson, constitutes wit. But in addition 
to this there is a degree of ridicule apparent in the 
application of it which nothing but a keen sense of the 
ludicrous could have suggested. And that Curran pos- 
sessed this power in an eminent measure is noticed by 
the writer, already quoted, in these words. " In the 
attorney-generalship of Fitzgibbon he came into frequent 
collision with that imperious lawyer, who was, nevertheless, 
often vanquished by the ridicule of Mr. Curran's wit." 

Although this sentiment is not intrinsically ill-natured 
there is no doubt that, except in minds very amiably con- 
stituted, it imparts a relish for what Gall calls salt and 
causticity, without which ridicule would fall flat and spirit- 
less. And though a sense of the ludicrous or the ridiculous 
may be gratified without ill-nature, still it cannot be denied 
that satire is its more appropriate companion. Now, as 
to Curran, the same writer says, " in irony he is pre- 
eminently successful, being shrewd, sarcastic, and severe, 
and in satire he stands unrivalled ; it is a caustic that 
causes the most stupid to feel and the most insensible to 
wince, it appals the effrontery of impudence and scares 
the audacity of public prostitution, nor rank nor station 
can shield themselves from its force, and when seemingly 
contemned it has been known to have operated with the 
greatest force." 

As an instance of his ready wit and his power of con- 
veying a cutting sarcasm in a single epithet, the following 
anecdote will show. A barrister who owned large landed 
property was opposed to Curran as counsel in a cause, 
and being annoyed and disconcerted by the pertinent 
points made by the latter, who was then young and very 
poor, he, in a contemptuous manner, said that no man 
should be called to the Bar who was not in possession of 



wit. 347 

a stated number of acres of land. "And pray, sir," said 
Curran instantly, "how many acres would make a wise- 
acre ? " Here is a remote analogy between incongruous 
things, and used in a provokingly sarcastic style. 

It is obvious, then, that Curran did really possess, 
in an eminent degree, the salt and causticity of Gall, 
and the sense of the ludicrous of Combe and Spurzheim. 
And, since this bias of the mind depends upon the 
saliency of the superior lateral part of the forehead, 
it follows that this part must have been well developed 
in Curran, supposing this to be the position of the organ. 
That such is really the case I have already endeavoured 
to demonstrate, by a strict comparison of his mask with 
those of other men who were celebrated for the brilliancy 
of their wit. 

Mr. William Scott, an able and truly philosophic writer 
on Phrenology, thought that the primitive function of 
this organ is to discover differences, that the organ of 
Comparison discerns resemblances, and Causality necessary 
connexion, the three combined forming the true philo- 
sophic understanding. He adduces Dr. Franklin in proof 
of his position. He states that the part of the head we 
are now considering is large in the bust of that remark- 
able man, and yet he was not aware of his having been 
considered witty. 

Undoubtedly this part of the forehead is large in 
Houdon's bust of Franklin, and the doctor was certainly 
a great philosopher.- But he was also witty. Indeed, 
there is a vein of quiet humour running through his 
writings, indicative of his having possessed power in 
that way had he chosen to render himself remarkable 
for wit or humour. The Abbe Morellet, with whom 
Franklin associated much when he resided at Passy, 



348 wit. 

near Paris, as Minister Plenipotentiary from the United 
States, says, in his " Memoirs on the Eighteenth Century," 
" Franklin's manners were in all respects delightful ; 
there was about him perfect good-humour and simplicity, 
an uprightness of mind that appeared in the smallest 
occurrences, and above all a gentle serenity which was 
easily excited to gaiety. He also says that Franklin 
excelled in relating anecdotes, and that his stories had 
always a philosophical object. But though Franklin could 
be witty, and was easily excited to gaiety, such was not 
the leading characteristic of his mind. " His stories 
had always a philosophical object." And why so? Be- 
cause he was endowed with an uncommon development 
of the organs of the moral and intellectual faculties. The 
organ of Causality he possessed in an eminent degree. 
The great size of this and of the organ of Comparison, 
gives remarkable width to the upper part of the forehead, 
and thus is imparted, but only apparently, greater pro- 
minence to the organ of Wit or Mirthfulness in Franklin 
than it assumes in Curran, in whose forehead Causality 
is not quite so marked a feature, although the organ of 
Wit far more strongly characterizes the head of Curran 
than that of Franklin. 

But granting that this organ is more prominent in one 
person than in another, and yet that the latter shall 
manifest more Wit, still this would not militate against 
the correctness of the views of Gall and Spurzheim with 
respect to the function of this part of the brain ; for a man 
may have a strong sense of the ludicrous, may be fond of 
mirth and given to laughter, and yet possess little power 
of exciting those sensations in others by flashes of wit, 
from a deficiency of strength in those faculties which 
alone enable one to recall images, and form new and 



wit. 349 

unexpected associations of them with almost intuitive 
rapidity. Now, these powers, as I have already shewn, 
were possessed by Curran to an extent rarely equalled 
and perhaps never surpassed. 

With respect to Mr. Scott's opinion, namely, that this 
organ perceives differences, while Comparison appreciates 
resemblances ; and that Wit consists in a perception of 
difference, or of congruity and incongruity ; it seems 
certain that in the perception of congruity comparison 
must be active, even though a separate faculty be con- 
sidered necessary for the appreciation of incongruity. 
But in the application of Wit, the perception of resem- 
blance so constantly precedes the perception of difference 
that one would be justified in associating a sense of the 
ludicrous with the faculty of Comparison, rather than 
with that which appreciates differences ; supposing such a 
power to exist distinct from the faculty of comparison. 

There does not, however, seem to be any necessity 
for such a special separate faculty; for in order to find 
out the differences of things we must compare them, 
and it is thus that we obtain a knowledge of their 
distinctness. 

Another very able writer in the Phrenological Jour- 
nal supposes that a sense of the ludicrous is merely a 
mode of action of any faculty; and feels inclined to 
attribute to the organ under consideration the power of 
investigating the essential nature of things, that it gives 
the tendency and power not only to portray the outward 
shew of things and the conventional manners of men, 
but also the intrinsic nature of the former and the inward 
motives of the latter. 

Now, it is quite impossible to admit that a sense 
of the ludicrous can be a mode of action of each of the 



350 wit. 

faculties. How, for instance, can the sense of the sublime 
and beautiful be productive of drollery and ludicrousness 
as one of its intrinsic modes of action ? How can that 
power of the mind which alone aims at perfection and 
grace be the source of what is ridiculously grotesque and 
incongruous ? How is it possible that two such opposite 
sentiments could be manifestations of a single organ ? 
It has been said that from the sublime to the ridiculous 
there is but one step ; and certainly the uncontrolled and 
ill-directed outpourings of Ideality are productive of ridicule 
and laughter. Yet this is no proof of the sense of the 
ludicrous being an attribute of that organ. Such feel- 
ings of ridicule are excited in the minds of others by an 
over-wrought organ of Ideality, inharmoniously blended 
with those other powers, without the guidance of which it 
may degenerate into bombast and irrational eccentricity. In 
this way may every faculty give rise to droll and ridiculous 
notions without its being necessary to consider a sense of 
the ludicrous as a mode of action of any faculty. A fond 
mother may excite this feeling strongly in others by the 
foolish manner in which she may sometimes evince her love 
of her child. But are such results a mode of action of the 
organ of the Love of Offspring? Certainly not ! So far from 
there being a tendency in the mother _^to excite ludicrous 
feelings by such excessive love, there could not be anything 
more calculated to wound her. A husband, jealous with- 
out cause, may render himself supremely ridiculous, but 
surely the faculties in which his jealousy originates are 
not the fountains from Avhence this sense of the ludicrous 
springs. On the contrary, nothing can be more serious, 
nothing less disposed to laughter and jollity, than a man 
possessed by so overwhelming a passion. But yet such 
folly is calculated to excite the feeling of the ridiculous in. 



wit. 351 

others. A beautiful illustration of this has been left us by 
Shakespeare in the character of Ford, in the " Merry 
Wives of Windsor. " Benevolence may pity the distraction 
of Ford, but it is not possible to avoid laughing at his 
disappointment in not finding Falstaff concealed in the 
buck-basket. It is quite clear, then, that any faculty 
may cause its possessor to conduct himself so as to 
create mirth and laughter, through a keen perception 
of the ludicrous in others, without being itself in the 
slightest degree desirous of placing its manifestations 
in a ridiculous light. 

Repudiating the existence of a primitive faculty for a 
sense of the ludicrous, and finding the organ assigned to 
that sentiment to be very prominent in the head of Sterne, 
this able writer is at some pains to show that that great 
wit possessed the peculiar talent which he is disposed to 
think has its source in this organ. In illustration of his 
opinion, he quotes a passage from the " Sentimental Jour- 
ney," wherein Sterne not only describes the peculiarities 
of different travellers, but also points out the motives 
which induced each of them to travel. 

There can be no doubt that Sterne possessed this talent 
in an eminent degree. Indeed, a high tone of philosophy 
pervades almost all his writings. Even where he is most 
droll there is something to arrest the attention of a re- 
flective mind. Yet, surely, the power of fathoming the 
depths of human motives may be ascribed to the possession 
of an adequate and well combined development of the 
intellectual organs generally; but especially of Indi- 
viduality, Eventuality, Comparison, and Causality, assisted 
by a fair proportion of the organs of the sentiments and 
propensities. 

Eventuality enabled him to notice accurately the 



352 wit. 

actions of individuals. Comparison conferred the power 
of comparing them so as to arrive at a knowledge of their 
peculiar characteristics, and Causality, which • imparts the 
tendency, and, when assisted by the other two, the capacity 
to investigate the motives by which men are actuated, 
rendered him capable of discovering why one travelled for 
pleasure, another for gain, a third for ostentation or 
fashion, and a fourth for the sake of health. It seems, 
indeed, entirely unnecessary to require the presence of 
any other primitive power to do that which clearly lies 
within the sphere of action of faculties already existing, 
when acting in unison and excited to activity by the 
scrutinising nature of Causality and the desire of know- 
ledge of Eventuality. Now the organs of Comparison 
and Causality are very salient in the bust of Sterne. 
Eventuality, also, is fairly developed, though it is not so 
characteristic as the other two. 

If this argument be right the part of the forehead 
lying outside Causality must have some other function 
than that ascribed to it by the distinguished writer just 
now quoted. And as the love of the mirthful and the laugh- 
able is undoubtedly a special elementary attribute of the 
human mind, and not a mode of action of any other faculty, 
there must be an organ for its manifestation, and 
whereas all other parts of the brain have, after scrupulous 
and untiring investigation, had their own functions 
allotted to them, and since there does not appear to be 
any necessity for the existence of another purely intel- 
lectual faculty as Mr. Scott conjectured, it is only reason- 
able to put faith in the unimpeachable truthfulness of 
Gall's discovery. And when it is found that this part 
of the head is exceedingly prominent in Sterne, who 
tinged almost everything he ever wrote with a ludicrous 



wit. 353 

colouring, and remains unsurpassed in wit and humour, 
that conviction is strengthened. 

But the same writer says, that however this may be, 
the organ is larger in Franklin, Wordsworth, and Dr. 
Cullen, than it is in Curran, Swift, and Sheridan. 

It has been already admitted that this organ is large 
in Houdon's bust of Franklin, and it has been shown, 
also, that Franklin was easily excited to gaiety, but that 
nevertheless a proneness to indulge in witty and humorous 
sallies was not a leading characteristic of his mental 
constitution, judging from the form of his forehead, while 
in the mask of Curran there were salient indications of 
a dominant tendency to display a rare and almost un- 
equalled genius in that line. 

I have compared the mask of Curran with a posthumous 
one of Dr. Cullen, and I have no hesitation to affirm 
that the organ of Wit is much larger in the former 
than in the latter. The forehead of Cullen is square, 
that of Curran arched and rounded. This might lead 
some to think the organ to be larger in Cullen. This, 
however, is not the fact, for the forehead of Curran is 
much higher, fuller, and rounder than that of Cullen, 
and it projects far more over the organ of Tune, while 
Cullen's forehead is broad and square. I would not be 
understood to say that the organ in question is uot well- 
developed in this great physician, and he may have 
relished mirthfulness and humour, but the studies he 
had pursued with such unremitting attention and such 
eminent success were ill-adapted to the cultivation of 
wit and humour, while Curran's position in society, 
his social habits and peculiar pursuits, all tended to foster 
and encourage such mental qualities in an individual 

C C 



354 WIT. 

whose cerebral organization was so admirably adapted 
for successfully displaying them. 

Two early casts of Sheridan and Wordsworth are now 
before me, and it is obvious enough that the organ of 
Mirth or Wit in the head of Sheridan has been underrated. 
Though the upper part of the forehead is more prominent 
in Wordsworth, it is evident that its superiority in this 
respect does not arise from a greater development of 
the organ in question. On the contrary, taking into 
consideration the comparative development of this organ, 
and of the organs of Comparison and Causality in both 
heads respectively, I feel assured that the first is relatively 
and absolutely much larger in Sheridan than it is in 
Wordsworth. Besides, Wordsworth's forehead was sym- 
bolic of a mind essentially contemplative, and, combined 
as this characteristic was in him with a beautiful develop- 
ment of the organs of the moral sentiments and Ideality, 
while those of the animal propensities were very moder- 
ately developed — it is not surprising that he should 
spontaneously indulge in that beautiful serenity of senti- 
ment and philosophic gravity of thought by which he 
is so eminently distinguished beyond, perhaps, any poet 
of his time. It is no wonder, then, that he should be 
less disposed to cultivate and display wit and humour 
than Sheridan, even with a larger organ of Wit than he 
really possessed ; for in Sheridan the contemplative- 
faculties were not characteristic, while he possessed ex- 
traordinary powers of observation, with superior facility 
in communicating his thoughts in language, full of point 
and brilliancy. And endoAved, as he certainly was, with 
warm social affections, and strong love of distinction, 
it is natural to expect that he would aim at enhancing the 
charm of his conversation with lively sallies of wit and 



wit. 355 

humour — a talent so much applauded by those to whose 
society and friendship he was warmly attached. Now, 
it is reasonable to think that an equal, or even a somewhat 
inferior, organ of Wit or Mirthfulness would cause its 
manifestations to be much more cheerfully indulged in 
by a man with such a cerebral organization as Sheridan 
possessed, than by one whose head resembled Words- 
worth's, for Individuality and Eventuality, essential organs 
of a wit, are larger in the cast of Sheridan than in that 
of Wordsworth. 

We can scarcely hope to form an accurate estimate 
of the original development of this organ in the head 
of Swift from the form of his scull, which bore striking 
evidence of its having been affected by the gradual decay 
and ultimate wreck of his intellectual faculties. The 
possibility of such degenerate alterations of form in regard 
to the size of parts may be demonstrated in some recorded 
instances. And the early portraits of Swift indicate 
greater fulness of the part in question that either the 
scull or the mask taken after death presents. In con- 
formity with the fundamental law of Phrenology, that 
size is, everything else being equal, an indication of 
power, we find that in his earlier productions, particu- 
larly in his "Tale of a Tub," Swift displayed greater 
vivacity of wit and humour, and more buoyancy of style, 
than in his later writings, scarcely excepting his master- 
piece, " Gulliver's Travels." He seemed sensible of this 
himself in after life, for, upon reading a few passages in 
the "Tale of a Tub," which he had not seen for many 
years, he exclaimed to a friend, " What an imagination 
I then possessed, I can scarcely imagine how I could 
have composed such a work ! " It may be well to observe 
here, that possessing, as he did, transcendent powers 

c c 2 



356 wit. 

of observation, which enabled him, as it were, instinctively 
to see through the pith and marrow of things, a strong 
feeling of severe indignation at the crimes and unjust 
assumption of men, and little sympathy for their less 
harmful follies, and being endowed with wonderful energy 
and self-will, as well as great personal courage, together 
with literary genius of the highest order, it is not to 
be wondered at that he should adopt and cultivate a 
style of writing which he deemed best calculated to 
arrest and rivet public attention, and which was most 
likely to deter others from the practices which he sought 
to expose. For he says, in his " Apology for the Author," 
prefixed to " The Tale of a Tub "— " That as wit is 
the noblest and most useful gift of human nature, so 
humour is the most agreeable, and where these two enter 
into the composition of any work, they will render it 
always acceptable to the world." Is it then to be 
wondered at that he should have cultivated a faculty so 
well calculated to gratify his predominant dispositions 
with greater zeal and success than another man in whom 
this organ might be equally strong, but whose general 
character, as in the case of Wordsworth, would feel a 
repugnance to the constant exercise of such a power. It 
would seem, too, that the spirit of humour which per- 
vades, in so rich a vein, the writings of Swift, springs 
in a great degree from the vivid, life-like pictures he 
draws of conduct and manners, which are themselves 
deeply imbued with qualities that are ridiculous and 
absurd. But it is also a demonstrable fact that the organ 
in question is much larger in Swift than in V/ordsworth. 

Even supposing a thing, however, which is contrary 
to fact, that the cerebral development of Swift, with 
regard to this organ, is opposed to the views of Gall and 



wit. 357 

Spurzheim, it must be equally opposed to the supposition 
that the organ in question imparts the power of searching 
beyond the surface of things, and of investigating the 
springs of human action ; for surely Swift possessed this 
power in no stinted measure. He had it, however, not 
through the intricate mazes of metaphysical speculation, 
but from a rare faculty of observation, at once compre- 
hensive and minute, which enabled him with instinctive 
rapidity to estimate the conduct and intentions of men. 
Individuality and Eventuality are singularly large in the 
mask of Swift, and Comparison is a characteristic 
feature. 

The head of William Godwin would prove a stronger 
case to support this conjecture than that of Sterne; for 
the organ of Wit, or the sense of the ludicrous, is promi- 
nent in the head of Godwin ; and yet there do not appear 
in his writings indications of his having been actuated by 
a strong sense of the ludicrous, while it is universally 
allowed that he possessed rare capacity for portraying with 
great force and distinctness the depth and complexity of 
human motives. Such power we have already seen is not 
incompatible with a talent for wit and humour. But the 
genius of Godwin bore the impress of complexional 
despondency. His intellect was reflective and speculative 
in a high degree. He seemed to possess greater strength 
when sounding the depths of human motives than when 
narrating the actions arising from them. At least, such 
speculations seemed to afford more gratification to himself 
than the mere recital of adventures. And we find, 
accordingly, that the organs of the reflective faculties are 
very large in the cast of the head of Godwin, while the 
organ of Hope is very small. Such a combination 
accounts for his notions regarding the vanity of human 



358 wit. 

wishes. It would tend to engender a proneness to 
delineate the house of mourning rather than the house of 
feasting. Hence arose those powerful descriptions of the 
dark and selfish passions, which induce some men to 
bring ruin upon innocent, unoffending victims ; and which 
he shews are certain, sooner or later, to overwhelm with 
irremediable degradation and misery the authors of such 
calamities. An ardent sympathy for the happiness of 
mankind was a leading feature of Godwin's mind ; though 
his mode of accomplishing this object may not have been 
dictated by mature wisdom, nor always by a refined and 
delicate regard for the moral sense of others. He had, 
however, the good of his species at heart ; and the ear- 
nestness which characterized his early pleadings for the 
supremacy of justice was only equalled by the serene and 
chastened glow which warmed and illumined those 
eloquent pages which he dedicated in the evening of life 
to the praise of benevolence and charity. 

Possessing such a cast of mind and being, moreover, 
somewhat reserved and probably distrustful, it could 
scarcely be expected that Godwin would indulge in a 
ludicrous or sportive strain of composition, notwith- 
standing the size of the organ of Wit or Gaiety. And 
the mask of Godwin, unlike that of Curran, is but of 
moderate development, relatively, in the region of Indi- 
viduality or Eventuality. 

From a passage in Fleetwood, a work which is strongly 
indicative of the leading characteristics of his head, I 
infer that he did not, like Curran, distinguish himself 
in society by the wit and poetic brilliancy of his con- 
versation. Yet Godwin's warm friendship for John 
Philpot Curran, and their frequent and familiar inter- 
course, are strong marks of his capacity for the enjoyment 



wit. 359 

of wit and humour. And, moreover, I have heard from 
one who knew him well that sometimes his manner of 
noticing the outre conduct of others in company was 
peculiarly droll and sarcastic. 

A case just now occurs to me which may serve to put 
this matter in a clearer point of view. The cast of 
Dr. Samuel Johnson, taken after death by the desire of 
Sir Joshua Reynolds, shows a large development of the 
organ of Wit and Gaiety.. Yet the writings of that 
remarkable man were not characterised by sportiveness 
of manner, nor were his sentiments conveyed in language 
at all tinged with a mirthful or ludicrous colouring. 
Johnson, however, prided himself upon what Godwin 
considered a poor criterion of mental superiority, namely, 
brilliant conversational powers, a mode of intellectual 
display which is calculated to draw out whatever sources 
of wit and humour an individual may be endowed with. 
" Though usually grave," says one of his biographers, 
" and even awful in his deportment, he possessed un- 
common and peculiar powers of wit and humour, he 
frequently indulged himself in colloquial pleasantry, and 
the heartiest merriment was often enjoyed in his company, 
with this great advantage, that it was entirely free from 
any poisonous tincture of vice or impiety, it was salutary 
to those who shared in it." 

Here, then, is an instance of an individual possessing 
uncommon capacity for the oral display of humour whose 
writings were nevertheless free from indications of his 
being largely endowed with such a talent. But though 
possessed of this power he used it sparingly, if at all, 
in his writings, as he probably considered it beneath the 
dignity of his subject, when essaying to depict the charms 
of virtue, to derogate from the stateliness of an ethical 



360 wit. 

discourse by the introduction of anything that bore the 
semblance of frivolity. 

These two cases, especially that of Johnson, show plainly 
that we are not warranted in pronouncing authors to be 
destitute of wit or humour, because no indications of their 
having possessed such faculties appear in their writings. 
Nor should we be surprised at finding in such individuals 
a good development of the part of the head which I am 
now considering. 

It has been somewhere noticed, but I am sorry I cannot 
now remember where, that in the cast from nature of" 
that able and successful navigator, the late Sir Edward 
Parry, the organ of Wit, as it was called by Gall, was 
large, and that nevertheless he was not known to be either 
witty or humorous. 

I am not aware, however, of any facts having been 
adduced to show that Sir E. Parry was devoid of zest for 
mirthful and humorous exhibitions. And it happens that 
I possess information which may throw light upon the 
subject. 

A particular friend of my own, who had a short time 
before joined the third battalion of the 60th Kegiment at 
Halifax, in Nova Scotia, dined with the Governor, Lord 
Dalhousie, in January, 1817. On that occasion, Mr. Parry, 
then First Lieutenant of the " Niger " frigate, commanded 
by Captain Samuel Jackson, sat next to my friend, who 
has informed me that, at that time, some of the officers in 
garrison joined those of the "Niger" frigate in getting up a 
private theatre, wherein they might exercise their histrionic 
talents, with the view of rendering the dreary winter's 
evenings of that cold region more agreeable. Lieutenant 
Parry took a leading part in the performances. And my 
friend, who was ardently attached to the drama, and was. 



wit. 361 

a good critic as to the merits of an actor, especially in 
comedy, said that Parry was little inferior to Dowton in the 
characters of Old Rapid in a " Cure for the Heartache," 
and in Sir Abel Handy in " Speed the Plough." 

Imitation is a marked feature in the head of 
Sir E. Parry, but he could not excel, as he did on that 
occasion, in comedy, without being endowed with a strong 
sense of mirthfulness and humour. 

The form of Sir E. Parry's head, therefore, affords evi- 
dence of the existence and position of this organ. 

The organ is very large in the cast from nature of the 
late celebrated comedian, John Reeve, much larger than 
it is in the original mask of Oliver Cromwell ;• and yet it 
would be deemed preposterous to think that he possessed 
the powers ascribed to that organ by the writer alluded 
to, in such abundance as did that u Sagest of Usurpers." 
While Cromwell, though sometimes given to indulge in 
drollery and vulgar practical jokes, would have but a poor 
chance of successfully coping with Reeve in the power of 
exciting laughter by the singular drollery of his acting. 

The organ is very large in the cast of that inimitable 
actor Elliston, and in that of Terry. It was very salient 
in Liston and Richard Jones ; and in many others, both 
male and female, who distinguished themselves in comedy, 
as is clearly indicated by the best portraits of every one 
of them. In the mask from nature of Mrs. Siddons, there 
is a fine masculine development of the organs of the 
perceptive and reflective faculties ; but that of gaiety and 
humour is very moderately developed. Yet no one can 
doubt that she possessed great power in the discrimination 
of peculiarities of character ; while no proof of a love of 
the ludicrous was ever displayed in her wonderfully fine 
dramatic delineations. In the mask of that most charming 



362 wit. 

of actresses Miss O'JSTeil the forehead is beautifully 
developed, and the organ of Wit and Mirthfulness is 
large ; and Miss O'Neil excelled in comedy as well as in 
tragedy. But comedy did not seem equally suited to the 
incarnate genius of the Tragic Muse. 

This organ is large in the portraits of Thomas Hood, 
the Eeverend Sydney Smith, the author of " Ingoldsby 
Legends," and the authors of" Rejected Addresses." And 
it is a marked feature in the photographic likenesses of 
writers of the present day who are distinguished for wit 
and humour. On the contrary, the same organ is but 
scantily developed in individuals who seem incapable of 
appreciating such mental qualities. Neither is it a 
characteristic feature in the heads of those who though 
capable of enjoying wit and humour are nevertheless 
not given to indulge in the display of such a talent. In 
the mask of Charles James Fox, taken after his decease, 
there is a fine development of the perceptive and reflective 
organs, but the one under consideration is certainly not 
salient. In conversation he could be instructive, fluent, 
and exceedingly agreeable. His powerful perceptive 
and reflective organs enabled him to acquire with rare 
facility, and to comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, 
which gave vivacity to his discourse. His predominant 
organ of Language afforded him fluency of expression, 
and his trustful, sanguine, and singularly amiable dis- 
position (for according to his friend Edmund Burke " he 
had not one drop of gall in his constitution,") rendered 
his companionship interesting in the extreme. But 
though Fox was not distinguished as a wit or humourist, 
he could not, to judge by his mask, be wanting in zest 
for humour. But that it was not a marked quality of 
his mind is what might be predicated. 






wit. 363 

A remark of Curran's, who knew Fox and greatly 
admired his talents, would lead one to suspect that the 
latter was generally thought to be averse to humour and 
drollery. "I am not sure," said Curran, " that Fox 
disliked humour, for when I indulged in trifles of that 
land I thought I saw a smile rippling over the mild 
Atlantic of his countenance." Is not this in itself a 
graceful and poetical example of wit founded upon far- 
fetched analogies ? 

O'Connell was endowed with great width and roundness 
of the forehead where it covers the convolutions of the 
brain which constitute the organ of the sense of the 
ludicrous. And the late Daniel Whittle Harvey told 
me, when alluding to the intellectual characteristics of 
his most distinguished contemporaries in the House of 
Commons, that he never saw a man who could bear 
O'Connell's ridicule. 

Amongst the many signal instances of this, which 
might be brought forward, there is one that I am tempted 
to narrate so far as memory serves me. It happened 
subsequent to the attorney-generalship of that eminent 
Chancery Barrister, the late Sir Charles Wetherall. The 
{i great agitator " in the cause of civil and religious liberty, 
who was then at variance with the Whigs, was to be seen 
sitting on the opposition benches, then occupied by the 
Tories, but still without abating a particle of his old bitter 
hostility to that powerful party. On one of these occasions 
he happened to seat himself by the side of Wetherall, 
which caused the latter to appear restless. And when he 
arose to speak, he did not refrain from giving utterance to 
his disgust at the intrusion within their precincts of persons 
who, by their habits and manners, were utterly unfit to sit 
near them. O'Connell got up instantly, and said, 



364 wit. 

"" Mr. Speaker, I am sure the House will bear with 
me while I endeavour to repay the honourable mem- 
ber for the lesson on the principles of politeness 
which he has given to us all, though it was particularly 
meant for my edification by this exquisite specimen of 
grace and urbanity. Oh ! Sir, the Prince of dark- 
ness is a gentleman, they say, and Wetherall is 
his name, or Bother-all. And here he is now come, 
this Majister Elegantiarum, with his rollicking rodo- 
montade, to tutor us into good manners. Indeed, the only 
lucid interval I could ever detect in this gentleman, lies 
between his waistcoat and pantaloons." Sir Charles, who 
was remarkable for carelessness as to his costume, never 
again ventured to come into collision with O'ConnelL 
This part of the forehead is very marked in the bust of the 
Reverend Arthur O'Leary, who was distinguished for the 
exquisite pleasantry of his conversation. An instance of 
O'Leary 's genius for wit and humour was told to me many 
years ago by one of the partners of the firm of Keating 
and Brown, the Catholic booksellers, of Duke-street, 
Grosvenor -square, upon my happening to remark one day 
in his shop that the bust and mezzotint engraving of that 
liberal and upright friar, which stood in the window, were 
both remarkable for the cerebral forms, which are sym- 
bolic of talent for wit and humour. " Well," said he, " I 
will give a striking instance of the correctness of your 
conjecture. When in London, Mr. O'Leary happened to 
call here one evening, and he remained conversing with 
me in the back-shop until the clock struck ten, when he 
arose to go home. And upon attending my honoured 
guest to the outer door, I was surprised to find that I had 
forgotten to close it properly, or even to have the window 
shutters put up at eight o'clock according to my custom ;, 



wit. 365 

so rivetted had my attention been for three hours by the 
sprightly wit and humorous anecdotical powers of Arthur 
O'Leary. 

There cannot be a doubt, then, of the separate exist- 
ence of a power of the mind so prevalent, and one 
which exercises so exhilirating and beneficial an influence 
upon both the mind and the body. But to what class 
of faculties does it belong ? Not to the intellectual, for 
all the highest operations of the intellect have been mani-» 
fested in the sciences without being in the slightest 
degree associated with this faculty. Not to the moral 
sentiments, the presence of each of which is absolutely 
esssential to the well-being of society. It does not belong 
to the animal propensities, for they, too, are indis- 
pensable. It would seem to be a superadded faculty — 
one admirably adapted to render us happy and joyous, 
formed to check the impetuosity of anger by timely sallies 
of mirthfulness and good humour, and when properly 
directed, capable of clothing the purest maxims of morality 
in a garb so fascinating as to render their passage to 
the heart more rapid, and their impressions more en- 
during. Byron, in alluding to this power in Horace 
writes thus — 

" Nor livelier satirist tlie conscience pierce, 
Awakening without wounding the touched heart." 

But like every attribute of the mind, it is subject to 
be abused, for when it is combined with a sour, envious, 
malignant disposition, it takes pleasure in turning into 
ridicule even things which in time of need have been 
the solace of the virtuous and the highminded. The 
mischief of its abuse, however, sooner or later recoils 
upon its possessor, for he becomes an object of aversion 



366 wit. 

to most persons — one to whom the warning of the poet, 
Horace, might with propriety be applied — 

" Faeniun habet in cornu, Romane caveto." 

This faculty should be placed in the same class with 
Ideality. They both imbue the mind with their own 
peculiar qualities. Ideality invests it with the charms 
of grace, elegance, and beauty. This clothes it in the 
fantastic robes of jest, jollity, and laughter. 






IMITATION. 



"Writers on mental philosophy have admitted the exist- 
ence of a special faculty of Imitation, and dwelt upon 
its importance, but some have supposed its sphere of 
action to be much more comprehensive than a closer 
observation of facts would justify. They seemed to 
imagine that upon this faculty depended the power of 
acquiring knowledge. A little reflection, however, will 
shew such an opinion to be erroneous. The kinds of 
knowledge are various, and so are the capacities of indi- 
viduals. Experience also teaches that it is not those 
who are endowed with the strongest imitative powers that 
excel in the acquisition of knowledge. And it is notorious 
that many who have been remarkable for quickness of 
apprehension were by no means noted for powers of 
imitation. The imitative faculties of the monkey, the 
parrot, and the mocking-bird do not enable them to 
acquire knowledge. Neither can the mimic, however 
extraordinary his powers of imitation, be at all considered 
on that account proportionably superior to others in 
intellectual ability. Successful actors display more 
marked imitative talents than men in other professions, 
but yet we do not, therefore, find them excelling others, 
who have but little capacity for imitation, in literature 
and the sciences. The late Charles Mathews was an 
exceedingly clever man, with rare talent for discerning, 



368 IMITATION. 

with uncommon accuracy, the peculiar manner of indi- 
viduals, and a power of mimicry almost unrivalled, and 
yet he could not write such " valuable nonsense " as his 
friend, James Smith, one of the authors of the " Eejected 
Addresses." Nor could even Shakespeare himself per- 
sonify his own " Hamlet " with so much truthfulness 
and power as did Garrick and Kemble. 

But although Imitation is, in accordance with a general 
law, incompetent to perform the functions of other powers, 
it may rightly be deemed an efficient auxiliary in exciting 
them to action. It tends to fix the attention of the 
intellectual faculties with the view of obtaining materials 
for its own gratification. Hence its importance in early 
life, when the germs of our future conduct and acquire- 
ments are planted on the tender and susceptible brain of 
infancy. How admirable, therefore, is that provision of 
nature which has caused this to be one of the first faculties 
manifested in childhood ! But in proportion to the advan- 
tages arising from the early development of this faculty 
would be the mischief of subjecting children to the contam- 
inating influence of bad example. It must not be forgotten, 
however, that the effect of example is necessarily modified 
by the predominance of certain sentiments and feelings ; 
for an individual possessed of much imitative power, who is 
also endowed with high moral sentiments, will be far less 
warped by bad example from the path of rectitude than 
one whose moral sense is not so active, although the latter 
may be but scantily endowed with the faculty of Imitation. 
Nevertheless it is certain that where this talent is strong 
there is a tendency in individuals to copy the manners and 
habits of those with whom they associate, especially if the 
manners be marked by striking peculiarities. The 
capacity for imitation is, however, circumscribed by the 



IMITATION. 369 

sphere of activity of other powers. No amount of the 
imitative faculty can enable one, who has no ear for 
music, to copy the musical characteristics of musicians 
and singers. Some mimics are more successful in por- 
traying peculiarities of manner and gesture ; others the 
inflections and tones of the voice. In the latter, Tune will 
be always found large, in the other, Form will be a 
prominent feature. 

Some persons possess extraordinary powers of imitation 
without being remarkable for quickness of perception or 
profundity of intellect. Indeed, some idiots have an 
irresistible propensity to mimic what they see done ; and 
among animals the mocking-bird is a striking example of 
the presence of this faculty. In these cases its force is 
•circumscribed within comparatively narrow limits ; for, 
although the intellect does not confer this power, it 
materially enlarges its sphere of action. This faculty, for 
instance, is essential to the dramatic performer ; but yet 
his excellence does not depend solely upon the degree of 
the development of its organ, for this may be great and 
yet its possessor be a man of mean ability as an original 
actor. He may, however, have the power to imitate the 
manner of a great performer but could not originate a 
noble and natural style of acting, such as Garrick, Kemble, 
Kean, Mrs. Siddons, and Miss O'Neil, were famed for. 
Such excellence can never be attained in the absence of a 
considerable endowment of the intellectual faculties, as 
well as of the sentiments and propensities ; for to delineate 
human passions with natural propriety and force can only 
be effected by one who is capable of instinctively feeling 
them strongly, and whose powers of observation are of a 
very high order. It is only when in combination with 
such abilities that the faculty of Imitation enables any 



370 IMITATION. 

one to become an actor of original genius as contrasted 
with a mere mimic. 

The simple faculty of Imitation cannot, then, be looked 
upon as a purely intellectual power, though it exercises- 
great influence over the manifestations of the intellectual 
faculties. That it is a primitive power may be inferred 
from the fact that idiots, in some cases, evince an irresis- 
tible desire to mimic whatever they see done. But to 
the phrenologist such a reasonable inference would not be 
sufficiently conclusive. He looks to nature for the 
foundation of all his opinions, and nature being consistent 
and constant in all her doings he rests satisfied when she 
presents him with phenomena which are invariably 
productive of certain effects, and which effects never arise 
without the presence of these phenomena. In looking to- 
nature, then, it is found that, whenever an individual 
who excels as a mimic is met with, he is sure to have 
the convolutions lying on each side of Benevolence very 
large. 

It is, indeed, a fact established beyond doubt that the 
propensity to mimic will always be proportioned to the 
size of that part of the brain ; but the effectiveness of the 
imitation will depend upon the clearness and precision 
with which peculiarities of character may be impressed 
upon the mind of the imitator through the medium of 
the intellectual faculties. This part of the head, for 
instance, though large in the elder Matthews, is yet not 
so prominent as I have seen it in some men who could 
not cope with him in mimicry. But the j)erceptive 
organs were very large in Matthews, much larger than in 
those to whom I now allude. 

The organ of Imitation, then, lies on each side of Bene- 
volence. It is broader anteriorly than posteriorly, and is- 



IMITATION. 3,7 1 

about an inch and a half in length and half an inch in 
breadth. This organ is very salient in the heads of 
celebrated actors. I have carefully examined the por- 
traits and casts from nature of a great many of them. In 
the casts of Elliston, Terry, John Reeve, and Matthews, 
who excelled in comedy, each after his own manner, the 
organ is very large. In the portraits of Liston it is 
particularly prominent. 

It is strongly marked, also, in the masks from nature 
of Talma, Kean, Mrs. Siddons, and Miss O'Neil, who 
excelled in tragedy. 

This distinction is purposely made lest it might be sup- 
posed, from a passage in Gall's works, that this organ 
was more especially devoted to comedy, for in the fifth 
vol., p. 203, of the American translation, he says, " There 
is no doubt that it is to this organ we are indebted for 
comedy." And he further says, " In the house of 
correction at Munich we saw a thief, who had this organ 
rather developed. I told him that he was a comedian. 
Surprised at this discovery he confessed that he had for 
some time made part of a strolling company." It appears 
to me, however, that Gall did not mean to confine the 
action of this organ to comedians, for, further on, he 
remarks that " The variety of other organs, which accom- 
pany that of Imitation, constitutes the difference in 
actors." It may here be observed that in the first-rrate 
comedians the organ of Imitation is always accompanied 
by strong and well-combined intellectual organs, crowned 
by a protuberant organ of Mirthfulness, which gives a 
decided bias towards comedy. It was the supremacy of 
this last-named organ which rendered Liston the inimi- 
table laughter-creating actor that he was; although the 
natural sedateness of his general character led him to 

D D 2 



372 IMITATION. 

think, it is said, that his talents were better adapted to 
tragedy. In the cast of that excellent actor, Mr. John 
Cooper, the organ of Mirthfulness is very moderately 
developed, and consequently he took care not to meddle 
with such characters as those the performance of which 
rendered Liston and Elliston famous. 

The organ of Imitation is very large in the portraits 
of Garrick, Kemble, Young, and Mrs. Siddons, in Mrs. 
Centlivre, Catherine Clive, Peg Woffington, in Wilks, 
Macklin, Foote, and many others of the olden time. It 
is also very salient in the best prints of Munden, Knight, 
and that paragon of sprightly characters in genteel 
comedy, Richard Jones. In these, the organ of Mirth- 
fulness is also very prominent. The organ of Imita- 
tion is exceedingly large in the cast of Clara Fisher, 
who, though but a mere child, astonished every one by 
her finished performance of Richard the Third, and other 
equally difficult characters. It is remarkably conspicuous 
in the cast from nature of Master Burke, who, in his 
native place, G-alway, surprised and delighted the late 
Baron Smith of the Irish exchequer by his performance 
on the violin when he was only about four years old, 
and at the age of six he excited admiration by his admi- 
rable performance of several comic characters on the 
stage. The celebrated Elliston admired him so much 
that he engaged him, at a large salary, to perform at 
the Surrey Theatre, where he elicited universal applause. 
The organ of Imitation is very salient in the portraits 
of the celebrated musical prodigy, " Lyra," whose won- 
derful extemporaneous performances on the harp, when 
only three or four years old, commanded great praise. 

It should be borne in mind that the power of repro- 
ducing combinations of musical tones depends upon the 



IMITATION. 373 

organ of Tune, without the aid of imitation, but that 
the power of imparting the peculiar expression of feeling 
or sentiment, which the composition was intended to 
convey, was imparted to those children by a large organ 
of Imitation, acting upon the organs of the fundamental 
affections. 

To shew that the mode of manifesting the faculty of 
Imitation is due to the powers which predominate in the 
mental constitution of an individual, I may mention the 
case of two gentlemen, who were very amply endowed 
with this organ of Imitation. They were both ardent 
admirers of the Drama but one of them disliked the Opera, 
and indeed musical entertainments of any kind. He was 
an excellent imitator of peculiarities of gesture, and could 
thus give considerable force to the outward expression 
of feeling, but he found it utterly impossible to recall a 
single bar of music, and consequently failed to imitate the 
musical peculiarities of others. His organ of Tune was 
very small. The musical development was, on the con- 
trary, remarkably good in the head of the other, and he 
not only had a quick perception and strong memory of 
musical compositions, but also possessed the faculty of 
giving each note its proper expression, and of imitating 
with great accuracy the manner and even the tones of 
those whom he strove to mimic. So strong was the 
instinct of imitation in this individual that I have seen 
him, unconsciously, imitating the voice and gesture of a 
person he was conversing with, whose accent and manner 
were marked by striking peculiarities. Again, it is not 
uncommon to find a person, possessed of a fine voice, with 
a quick appreciation of melody and harmony, whose 
musical performances will, notwithstanding, appear cold 
and unimpressive, and wanting in the quality of expres- 



374 IMITATION. 

sion. In such a case the organ of Imitation will always 
be found moderate. But if the performer be abundantly 
endowed with feelings, which the composition is capable 
of exciting, he will sing with natural expressiveness, even 
though he possess only a moderate endowment of this 
organ. Nevertheless, a large development of it would 
enhance his powers of expression. There are many good 
musicians with fine voices on the stage ; but how few are 
they who can approach Pasta or Malibran in natural and 
dramatic expression. The organ of Imitation was very 
large in both these accomplished women. Of Malibran 
there was a cast taken some years before her death. In 
it the organ of Imitation is very conspicuous, notwith- 
standing the superior size of the organs lying around it. 
The organ is very large in the cast of Shroeder Devrient, 
who displayed great dramatic capacity in Beethoven's 
beautiful opera of " Fidelio." 

But it is not to actors alone that a good endowment of 
this organ is requisite. It is essential to the successful 
efforts of the painter and the sculptor, and it imbues the 
poet's genius with a bias towards dramatic composition. 
This faculty of imitation is not so essential to the land- 
scape painter as to him whose genius is devoted to the 
delineation of historical figures and portraits. A picture 
or a bust may be tolerably true to nature as to form and 
size, but it may still be flat and spiritless as to life-like 
expression. 

I have always found this organ large in those artists who 
have excelled in giving characteristic expression to their 
portraitures. In the fine print of Michael Angelo, by 
Longhi, after a picture by the great original himself, the 
organ is very conspicuous. The same conformation is a 
predominant feature in a fine modem print of Raphael 






IMITATION. 375 

without a cap, engraved in line after a picture by himself, 
and also in Albert Durer and all the great masters who 
excelled in delineating the human form, and in imbuing 
it with the natural expression of the character represented. 
The mention of a few casts from nature may not be 
unimportant. In Barry and West, in Fuseli and Flax- 
man, in Canova and Lawrence, the organ of Imitation 
is very large. In the mask of Lawrence it is remarkably 
developed, and his works afford a fine illustration of the 
■qualities attributed to this organ. It is salient in the 
mask of Maclise, whose works are singularly dramatic. 
I should have mentioned, when alluding to actors, that 
a marked prominence in this part of the head in private 
persons is sure to be accompanied by a passionate love for 
theatrical performances. And I could adduce many in- 
stances of its large development in men who have dis- 
tinguished themselves as amateur actors. It is large in 
the cast of Sir E. Parry, whose success in the parts of 
Old Rapid and Sir Abel Handy, I have noticed when 
treating of the organ of Mirthfulness. 

I have already said that this faculty, when strong, gives 
a dramatic tinge to the productions of poets and writers 
of fiction. It is prominent in the heads of iEschylus, 
Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. Li 
Shakespeare and Corneille it is very prominent. In the 
cast from nature of Sir Walter Scott the organ is very 
marked, and his writings are eminently dramatic. To 
the orator this organ is a powerful auxiliary. It enhances 
in an eminent degree the sympathy of his listeners by 
enabling him, without effort, to " suit the action to the 
word." Without it the finest discourse will often be 
deemed spiritless and unimpressive. History tells us of 
the pains taken by Demosthenes to overcome the ill-effects 



376 



IMITATION. 



of his being but scantily endowed with this faculty, and 
Cicero, who is said to have been as defective in action 
as Demosthenes, took lessons in elocution first from 
Rossius, the comedian, and then from OEsopus, the 
tragedian. 

This faculty enables us to copy the manners of those 
with whom we associate, but oddity or marked peculiarity 
of deportment is particularly calculated to arrest attention. 
A friend of my own, in whose head this organ was ex- 
tremely prominent, often unconsciously imitated the 
gestures of those who were speaking to him. He was,, 
at one time, in the habit of conversing with a friend^ 
whose mode of speaking was characterised by much 
gesticulation, and it was curious to observe on those 
occasions how much his own manner and tone of voice 
were imbued with the peculiarities of his friend — peculi- 
arities which he certainly had no wish to copy. Subse- 
quently he seldom met with this individual, and soon no 
traces of resemblance remained. 

This case clearly shews that the instinctive gesticular 
expression of the mental affections, which has been called 
the natural language of the individual, is permanent, 
while that which is acquired by imitating those whose 
dispositions differ much from one's own are transient. A 
man with very large organs of Self-esteem and Firmness, 
for example, will be stiff in his gait, with the upper back 
part of his head much elevated and drawn backwards. 
Another, having these organs small, but possessing a large 
organ of Imitation, may counterfeit this peculiar attitude 
successfully, but its continuance would be irksome and. 
impossible to the one, while to the other it would be 
appropriate and easy. 

This natural adaptation of external expression to the* 



IMITATION. 377 

prevailing affections of the mind indicates the cause why 
a mimic or an actor has more trouble and is less successful 
in personifying some characters than others. A powerful 
imitator, who is naturally proud, will delineate a haughty 
character more forcibly than it can possibly be done by 
one who is instinctively meek and humble, however excel- 
lent his talent for imitation may be. This fact is every 
day verified on the stage. Who, that has seen them, 
could forget the grandeur of Mrs. Siddons and of Pasta, 
and the exquisite tenderness mingled with power of 
Miss O'Neil and Malibran. Some actors, like Miss 
O'Neil, possessed great dramatic versatility. Garrick 
was as successful in Abel Drugger as in Richard the 
Third, in The Lying Valet, as in Hamlet. Miss O'Neil 
was as true to nature in The Widow Brady as in 
Mrs. Haller, in the exquisitely tender and unselfish 
Juliet as in Lady Macbeth, in Mrs. Oakley as in The 
Mourning Bride. Elliston, also, was an actor of versatile 
powers, but he excelled all his cotemporaries in genteel 
comedy. Kean's versatility was great. How opposite are 
the characters of Lear and Bichard ! and yet he was 
equally successful in both. How striking were his transi- 
tions in Junius Brutus, Luke, and Ruben Glenroy ; and 
in Abel Drugger, which he performed in London for his 
own benefit, he was eminently successful. 

It would have been impossible for these great actors, be 
their intellectual powers ever so conspicuous, to personify 
to the life such opposite characters, if they had not been en- 
dowed with a fair admixture of those affections which 
formed the leading features of those characters. But, on the 
other hand, if they had not possessed this power of imita- 
tion in an eminent degree, they never could have called forth 
at will the natural outward expression of those affections. 



378 IMITATION. 

Here the peculiar function of the organ of Imitation 
becomes manifest. A proud, ambitious man, for instance, 
violent and impetuous, who finds his reputation wrongfully 
assailed on a tender point, will give way to impassioned 
ebullitions of rage, quite as expressive, and more true to 
nature, than the efforts of the greatest actor, without calling 
into play the faculty of Imitation at all ; but, without a 
good organ of Imitation, he would find it totally out of 
his power to act such a part with the like degree of truth- 
fulness, when the feelings were not really engaged. 

It has been said that a proneness to indulge in mimicry 
is a concomitant of an ill-natured disposition, and I have 
been informed that a phrenologist has publicly declared 
that the organs of Benevolence and Imitation are never 
found large in the same head. Both these opinions are 
decidedly wrong. They seem to be entirely conjectural. 
Indeed, some of the most kind and amiable characters 
I have ever known were good mimics. And as to the 
other assertion, I am quite sure that no man extensively 
acquainted with the evidences of Phrenology could hazard 
such an opinion. 

The organs of Imitation and Benevolence are both very 
large in the casts of Malibran, Mrs. Wood, Elliston, 
Terry, and Kean. These were all remarkable for 
generosity of character, and the performance of Elliston 
as Walter in the " Children in the Wood " was a most 
affecting personification of Benevolence. 

The very position of the organ would show that it is 
not necessarily akin to ill-nature. On the contrary, the 
fact of its being among the organs of the noblest attributes 
of human nature, both moral and intellectual, indicates 
that the Creator intended that the legitimate exercise 
of it should be directed to the copying of virtuous actions 



IMITATION. 379 

and the enhancement of the effectual manifestation of the 
intellectual faculties. 

It is hardly necessary to observe that the faculty of 
Imitation is not opposed to originality, for the numerous 
examples that have been adduced prove that those actors 
who imitated nature most successfully were always 
deemed the most original, and it will never be denied 
that Shakespeare who, in his writings, imitated nature to 
the life was the most original of poets. 

It will, I trust, have appeared clear that Imitation is 
a fundamental power of the mind, which is possessed by 
some birds and other animals as well as by many idiots. 
And in referring to its early activity in childhood, I 
have endeavoured to show that the obvious propensity 
to imitate, manifested at that early period of life, does 
not altogether depend on this faculty, since a child with 
strong musical tendencies will endeavour to imitate melody 
and harmony from the mere force of his organs of Tune, 
Time, &c, and that every faculty when active tries to 
imitate whatever it sees done that falls within its own sphere. 
But this kind of desire to imitate differs from the funda- 
mental power which I am now considering, for this 
primitive faculty gives the tendency not only to imitate 
what is done, but also to copy the peculiar manner of the 
doer. I have shewn that from its organ being large in 
the most eminent dramatic actors, it gives the ability to 
delineate the natural expression of the passions with as 
much truthfulness as if their manifestation were the result 
of really excited feelings, and that the organs of those 
feelings must also be well-developed, but yet that a great 
development of those organs could never, without an ample 
endowment of the organ of Imitation, evince at will the 
natural expression of feeling, which actors of first-rate 



380 IMITATION. 

eminence are, without any adequate internal motive, 
capable of displaying. 

A rather laughable illustration of this is mentioned in 
the accounts of Garrick's career. A townsman of his 
came all the way from Litchfield to London to see him 
play; and, after witnessing his performance of Abel 
Drugger, he returned home immediately, quite disgusted 
with the great actor, for he said he was the meanest wretch 
he had ever seen in his life. 

I have endeavoured to shew that this faculty renders the 
poet dramatic, that it enables the musician, painter, and 
sculptor to give natural expression to their compositions, 
and that the orator, without an adequate share of it, can 
never become a successful elocutionist. In fine, I have 
adduced numerous examples to prove that the talent for 
imitating is always, c&teris paribus, in proportion to the 
development of that part of the head which lies on each 
side of Benevolence and just above Causality. 



' 



THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 



I have hitherto been engaged in analyzing and delineat- 
ing the faculties which Spurzheim denominates affective. 
Some of these, as we have seen, man possesses in common 
with the inferior animals, while he is the exclusive 
possessor of others. Experience clearly shews that these 
feelings have been bestowed upon all living beings in a 
different measure; and that the more complicated the 
cerebral organization of any species of being, the more 
evident is the disparity in the degree of its several 
mental endowments. All these faculties are emotional. 
They are blind and impulsive. Even the most noble 
and divine of the moral and religious attributes are 
liable, through this blindness, to lead to disaster. Where 
then is to be found an effectual corrective ? Where but 
in those faculties which enable us to acquire knowledge 
and experience, to discriminate between opposing motives, 
and to comprehend the various results which are likely 
to ensue from the dominant influence of any one of them. 
That the manifestation of these feelings depends entirely 
upon the brain is proved, beyond any doubt, to be an 
established fact, a fact which nothing but unthinking 
prejudice could ever venture to deny. Nor would it be 
less irrational, after using all due diligence in searching 
after truth at Nature's shrine, to doubt, or attempt to 
gainsay, the overwhelming evidence which is recorded in 



382 THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

all parts of the civilized world in proof of the fact that, 
with the exception of the frontal lobe or forehead, the rest 
of the brain is composed of the organs of the animal 
propensities and of those of the moral and religious 
sentiments. It is well to observe here that, as our con- 
duct and manners are more influenced by the feelings 
than by the intellect, it follows that the bulkiest part 
of the brain should be occupied solely in their manifes- 
tation, according to the universal law, that largeness, 
all other conditions being equal, indicates superior 
power. 

The comparative smallness of the intellectual division 
of the brain renders the satisfactory demonstration of 
the thirteen organs of which it is proved to be com- 
posed somewhat difficult to those who are beginning to 
study this science. But a conscientious examination of 
the evidence accumulated by phrenologists, will allow 
no doubt to exist on the mind of any one that the intel- 
lectual faculties are as numerous and distinct as phren- 
ologists affirm them to be ; and that the appropriate 
organ of each of these faculties has been thoroughly 
established, both by positive and negative evidence, is 
beyond question palpable. 

To those who suppose that perception, memory, imagi- 
nation, and judgment are elementary faculties, which 
together constitute the understanding, the assertion that 
the human intellect is composed of thirteen organs, each 
of which discharges a function which is perfectly distinct 
from any other, will appear preposterous. But it has 
been shewn already that metaphysicians have been greatly 
in error when they imagined that perception, memory, 
and imagination were primitive faculties, for they are 
nothing more than modes of action of the fundamental 



THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 383 

powers. Memory and imagination, therefore, must be 
as various in kind as the faculties, since it is obviously- 
contrary to nature that the faculty which perceives and 
remembers musical tones should, also, be capable of cal- 
culating and remembering their numbers. Neither is the 
power which perceives the local position of things fit to 
appreciate the order in which they are placed. Nor can 
that which alone is capable of gaining a knowledge of 
their size, give the slightest intimation of their colour, 
or their weight. As well might it be said that the nerve 
of hearing can give the power of seeing, or that the nerve 
of seeing can impart the sense of hearing. 

When Descartes propounded his views respecting the 
certainty of the innateness of ideas it is probable that by 
the word ideas, he meant faculties, which his own intel- 
lectual instincts naturally prompted him to look upon as 
being innate, and not dependent for their existence upon 
experience. And when Locke denied the innateness of 
ideas it is evident that he avoided that confounding of 
terms, for though he considered the mind to be like a 
tabula rasa, or sheet of blank paper upon which images 
of outward objects are impressed through the medium of 
the external senses, he yet shows evidently that he did 
not at all consider this tabula rasa to be in all its attributes 
a passive recipient of impressions. This great philosopher, 
most profound thinker, and accurate definer, justly con- 
ceived that ideas of the existence and special attributes 
of these images were conceived by the mind — this tabula rasa 
— through the agency of its internal faculties or senses, 
which had their seats in what he named the sensorium. 
These he denominated ideas of sensation, and by the term 
idea he meant " whatever a man observes, and is conscious 
to himself he has in his mind." But, as the mind is 



384 THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

capable of comparing, composing, and abstracting, it 
forms new ideas by a perception of its own operations, and 
these he calls ideas of reflection. The former he calls 
simple ideas, the latter complex. All knowledge is thus 
said to be the result of the experience of sensation or of 
reflection, and this experience is owing to " the observa- 
tions of the mind employed either about external sensible 
objects, or the internal operations of itself, perceived and 
reflected upon by its own faculties." 

But if all our ideas of sensation be derived from expe- 
rience alone, how comes it to pass that the new-born 
babe instantly turns to its mother's bosom for its life- 
preserving food ; or how is it that the duckling, hatched 
by a hen, will, after breaking through its shell, very soon 
run into the water, to the great dismay of its anxious 
foster-mother ? And how can we thus explain why the 
egg of the song thrush, hatched with those of a bird 
that does not sing, will produce a bird that does sing, 
if it be a male, while the issue of the others will be per- 
fectly tuneless? And, moreover, it may well be asked 
how it happens that the female offspring of singing birds 
are never known to sing ? And yet they have the same 
opportunities of experiencing the pleasing sensations 
caused by the parent's song as their male brethren. 
And it cannot be supposed that their external sense of 
hearing is less acute. 

To nullify the importance of objections like those, 
which are evidently fatal to the soundness of the founda- 
tion upon which Locke has reared his famous temple of 
mental philosophy, it has been said that those tendencies 
and special individual characteristics of animals fall 
within the sphere of mere instincts; and, strange to say, 
an enlightened and devoted disciple of Locke's, Dr. John 






THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 385 

Mason Good, supposes that such evidences are not 
admissible as facts subversive of Locke's theory, which, 
he says, is by no means affected in its fundamental 
principles by such collateral circumstances, for that there 
are certain instincts having no connexion with mind. 

Surely this is assuming too much. Can it be said 
that the tuneful fervour of the Nightingale is an instinct 
unconnected with mind, since man too has the musical 
instinct ? Can it be pretended that in him it is not 
connected with mind ? Indeed, there is not one instinct 
possessed by animals with which man is not amply 
endowed. Every instinct is therefore connected with 
mind. And since it must be admitted that instincts do 
exist and are manifested independently of experience, 
how can it be justly assumed as a fact that the mind, of 
which instincts form intrinsic ingredients, is nothing 
more than a sheet of blank paper, as it were, until the 
lessons of experience are impressed upon it ? It is not 
presumptuous to say that there is a want of logical con- 
sistency in such an assumption. 

This theory of Locke is indeed totally inadequate to 
tlirow a ray of light upon the true and pure fountains, 
whence spring those diversities of talents and dispositions 
that so happily tend to foster the division of labour, 
and thus minister to the rapid progress of arts and 
sciences, and which serve also to hasten the wide-spread 
prevalence of beneficence and justice, by affording no 
excuse for harbouring the baleful influence of envious 
rivalry. How, for instance, can his single faculty of 
perception be capable of appreciating all the varied per- 
ceptions of the understanding which are in their intrinsic 
nature so palpably distinct from one another? 

It is to Phrenology alone, of all the systems of mental 

E E 



386 THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

philosophy, we are to look for a light to guide us to those 
fountains, so long and so hopelessly sought after. And it 
is no idle assumption to aver that that much neglected 
science affords the only means of effectually analysing the 
operations of the mind and of discovering and demonstrat- 
ing the actual and relative power of its primitive inde- 
pendent faculties in any individual. 

Before I describe the local position of the organs of 
which the forehead in mankind is composed, it will be 
right to state that all through the animal creation sagacity 
and docility are always, without a single exception, in 
proportion to the favourable development of the anterior 
lobe of the brain. For not only can gradations of develop- 
ment be readily traced upwards from the sculls of the 
most savage and indocile creatures, such as the crocodile 
and the ursine opossum, till we come to the most sagacious 
of the dog and monkey tribes ; but also in animals of the 
same species, and even in those of the same brood, great 
differences are perceptible in the size and shape of the 
frontal lobe. Indeed, a long course of scrupulous and 
careful investigation of a vast number of the sculls of 
animals of all kinds, both wild and domestic, emboldens 
me to aver with confidence that the measure of sagacity 
in any of the inferior creatures is always in proportion to 
the width and height of the frontal portion of the scull 
which embraces the anterior lobes. But, owing to the 
smallness of the brains of most animals, it may not be 
possible to subdivide these lobes into their separate organs. 
Still organs that are specially characteristic may readily 
be singled out. Such, for instance, as the organ of music 
in singing-birds. Even in the diminutive scull of the 
canary it is easy to discern the superior development of 
that organ in the male bird. In the sub-dividing of the 



THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 387 

human forehead no such difficulty presents itself; for, 
though it is composed of many organs, its ample volume 
affords sufficient room for drawing distinct lines of 
demarcation between them. 

The dividing of the human forehead into three grand 
regions, each of which consists of a number of parts called 
organs, which perform different functions, is sanctioned 
t>y an unvarying law of nature. The first portion occupies 
the brow, just above the nose and eyes, and stretches 
across as far as the external angle of the orbit, which it 
includes. In this division are contained the organs which 
perceive and remember external objects, their special 
qualities, such as form, size, weight and colour, and the 
relation they bear to one another in regard to their local 
position, their order, and their number. The next division 
lies just over these, and extends across to the temples, 
having the organs of Music and Constructiveness at either 
end. This comprises organs that take cognizance of facts 
and phenomena, whether these consist of external occur- 
rences, or of the acts and states of the mental faculties 
themselves, with those of Time and Melody, upon which 
rhythmical harmony depends ; the third, which embraces 
the two purely reflective organs of Causality and Compa- 
rison, occupy the superior portion of the forehead, except 
at its outward angle, where it comes in contact with 
the temple ; for it is at that spot the organ of Wit in 
the Sense of the humorous and ludicrous has its seat. 
Besides these, there is the organ of Language, which does 
not lie amidst the others ; but yet it is placed so as to be in 
close contact with all of them. For, while they take a 
direct course from behind forward, the convolution, which 
is the organ of Language, takes a transverse course, which 
causes it to come into intimate contact with the convolu- 

E e 2 



388 THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

tions that go to form all the other perceptive organs. 
And, though it lies more than an inch behind the eyebrow, 
its size can yet be truly estimated by the position of the 
eye in the orbit, the very thin superior bony plate of which 
becomes either convex or concave according to the large- 
ness or smallness of this convolution, which, like every^ 
part of the nervous system, enclosed by bone, imparts its 
own form and dimension even to the rigid substance that 
invests it ; because the priority of its existence renders 
the nervous and medullary substance a model, as it 
were, upon which osseous deposits are moulded into 
shape. 

How beautiful is this provision of nature ! The most 
comprehensive human intellect could never have anti- 
cipated so exquisite a contrivance. Gall was a long time 
acquainted with the external appearance of the organ of 
Language, without being aware of its mode of connexion 
internally with all the other perceptive organs. 

The providential wisdom of this connexion is obvious, 
since it is manifest that artificial vocal or written signs 
are indispensable to the spread of whatever knowledge 
the other faculties are individually or collectively capable 
of attaining. The organ of each of them is consequently 
blended, or rather placed in contact with that of artificial 
language. For the more closely mental tendencies are 
naturally formed to associate, the nearer their organs 
are found to approximate. There is not any necessity, 
for instance, that the convolution which is the organ 
that takes cognizance of events should have its place 
immediately adjoining that of melody, in order to make 
known its requirements. But, without being functionally 
and physically associated with that of artificial language 
the acquisitions of eventuality would be comparatively 



THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 389 

incommunicable, and be as useless to others as the 
treasures closely hoarded in a miser's coffer. 

The local positions and functions of the organs of the 
intellectual faculties come now to be considered. 



INDIVIDUALITY 



This is the name given to the first of the perceptive 
organs by Spurzheim. And a very appropriate name 
it seems to be in an abstract point of view. But it 
hardly conveys at first an adequate idea of the essential 
nature of this faculty. This is done by Gall with more 
distinctness. He calls it the sense of things and the 
memory of things — the sense and the memory of facts. 
He also names it educability and perfectibility. It is 
not possible to misunderstand the meaning of this nomen- 
clature, which is almost entirely in accordance with 
nature. The organ lies in the centre of the forehead 
just above the root of the nose. 

When the sense of things and facts is very acute, 
and the memory of them very retentive, there is, of 
course, a marked capacity for acquiring knowledge. 
Educability, therefore, truly enough denominates the 
function of this part of the brain. But only to a certain 
extent. For, though it is quite certain that there cannot 
be any intellectual perfectibility without a powerful 
development of it, it is, nevertheless a fact that this 
part of the brain may be of paramount size, and yet 
the talents be incapable of attaining to excellence at 
all approaching perfectibility. It is indeed a fact, of 
the truth of which wide experience has convinced me, 
that some children, with even a protuberant develop- 



INDIVIDUALITY. 391 

ment of this central portion of the forehead, have been 
forced to yield the palm of educability to others whose 
cerebral development in this respect was by no means 
equal to theirs. 

Educability should, therefore, be deemed too compre- 
hensive an appellation for this portion of the brain. Yet 
certainly it is the mainspring and stimulator of those 
other organs which together with it render educability 
feasible. Unsupported by these its efforts are character- 
ised by desultoriness. And though its knowledge may 
be various and extensive it will be wanting in the proper 
balance and just connexion of parts, without which 
qualities the miscellaneous information, which this group 
of convolutions is alone capable of gaining, will fall far 
short of the general and useful results, which, in harmo- 
nious combination with other organs, it would enable its 
possessor to accomplish. 

Hence it is obvious that its natural function is to 
acquire a particular knowledge of things and facts and 
states of being, and to retain them in the memory in a 
form somewhat detached from one another. 

Individuality is, therefore, a name that designates the 
tendency of this part of the brain, though it fails to 
convey to the mind a clear intimation of the kind of 
knowledge it is in search of. 

But as the faculty that perceives things merely in their 
inert state, and abstracted from their qualities of form, 
size, and colour, cannot comprehend things in action ; 
and as Gall attributed to this part of the brain the power 
of perceiving facts and passing events, also, it is but 
reasonable to think that what he took to be only one 
organ is really composed of two, though they certainly 
seem to be closely allied in regard to the nature of their 



392 INDIVIDUALITY. 

functions, as each of them takes cognizance of things in 
detail, though the sphere of action of the one is far more 
comprehensive than that of the other, as will be seen 
hereafter. 

It is for this reason Spurzheim gave to the upper 
portion of these convolutions the name of Eventuality. 
But the title Individuality would apply equally well to 
both parts, for each of them has the faculty of apprehend- 
ing separate individual entities, though these entities are 
in their nature intrinsically different. This diversity of 
function might fairly be anticipated, since uniformity of 
shape is not a constant characteristic of this central portion 
of the forehead. Two notable instances of this fact are 
to be found in the authentic plaster casts of the great 
William Pitt and that prodigy in the physical sciences 
Isaac Newton. In the former the upper portion is 
remarkably salient, whilst the lower part is relatively of 
moderate prominence. The latter, on the contrary, is 
singular for the vastness of its development in the under 
portion, whilst the upper part, though broad, is not by 
any means of equal fulness. The plaster mask of Lord 
Brougham strongly resembles that of Newton. But yet 
it is not quite so full and prominent in the lower part, 
though it is comparatively fuller in the upper. In the 
mask from nature of Sir William Herschell, taken when 
he was about fifty years old, the same characteristic form 
is strikingly apparent. And do not these instances afford 
strong evidence of the truth of the phrenological doctrine 
which teaches us to consider this organ of Individuality 
to be an essential ingredient of genius for the physical 
sciences. And when it is a fact, ascertainable at one of 
the museums of Paris, that the scull of Descartes is very 
prominent where the organ of Individuality lies, another 



INDIVIDUALITY. 393 

great example in corroboration of this truth is presented 
to the conscientious observer. And should doubt arise 
in the mind of anyone as to the authenticity of this scull, 
the fine print of that great genius in physics and mathe- 
matics by Edelinck, offers palpable evidence of the large 
size of Individuality. 

Moreover, the lower convolutions of Gall's organ of 
Educability are as distinct from the upper ones as they 
are from those of Locality, which are in contact with both 
of them. But as they occupy the central region of the 
forehead without the intervention of any other convolu- 
tions, it strengthens the probability that a close analogy 
exists between their functions. Each has the disposition 
to seek and the capacity to learn and to remember things 
minutely, but the lower one directs its attention, solely to 
individual physical objects, while the upper prompts us to 
acquire a knowledge of all phenomena, both moral and 
physical. The lower one, having the convolution, which 
is the organ of Locality, between it and those of the 
organ of Time, or the sense of the duration of time, is 
conversant with individual things as they exist in space ; 
the upper, which lies in contact with the convolutions of 
Time and Locality, gives its attention to things and facts 
as they exist both in Time and Space.* The lower is 
supported on either side, along the ridge of the brows, by 
the convolutions which constitute the organs of Form, 
Size, Weight, or the sense of Resistance, Colour, Order, 
Number, and Locality. Through these it acquires a proper 
notion of the qualities of objects, as well as their number, 
local position, and the order in which they lie. It seems 
to have the faculty of concentrating into oneness the 

* See Eventuality. 



394 INDIVIDUALITY. 

several attributes of bodies, of perceiving unity. Hence,, 
it has acquired the name of Individuality. One may, for 
instance, picture to himself a vast multitude of men, 
congregated in a certain place. The attributes and 
appointments of these men are perceived by faculties, 
specially adapted for those separate purposes. But it is 
this part of the brain that brings into unity those widely 
scattered elements, and enables us to form the idea of an 
army, or of a House of Commons. No doubt, it is not 
so easy to satisfy oneself of the existence of any inert 
inanimate body, apart from its attributes of form, colour 
and size. But, since unity is perceivable in such objects, 
and as the senses of form, size, and colour have no 
power at all to form any idea of the proper function of 
each other, it is certain that they are each of them, 
incapable of perceiving the unity of any object composed 
of a variety of qualities. There must, however, be a 
faculty, specially adapted to this purpose ; and well tried 
experience has established the fact that the provident and 
Omniscient Creator of all things has wisely ordained that 
its organ should hold a central position, where the produce 
of the action of its indispensable auxiliaries should con- 
verge and assume the character of Unity. It is through 
it we acquire the idea of matter independent of the 
qualities which characterize matter. 

Those who manifest a strong desire to know the subject 
of their study in its minute details, and whose talent 
enables them to illustrate their argument with appropriate 
particular instances, are always found to be exceedingly 
full in the centre of the forehead, just above the nose, and 
stretching upwards to the extent of about an inch and a half. 
But, as has been already stated, its general fullness is not- 
always uniform. 



INDIVIDUALITY. 395 

In all the most eminent practical engineers, the lower 
part is very large. And in proportion to its development 
will be manifested the capacity for readily detecting the 
minutest material obstacles to the proper working of their 
mechanical inventions. In such men, the upper organ also 
is often large. It is so in the mask from nature of the 
elder Brunell. In Chantrey's fine bust of Watt, there is 
a large development of it: and it is also full in the cast 
from nature of George Stevenson. Still, the lower part 
predominates, especially in the two latter. And in 
Chantrey's very expressive bust of John Rennie, the lower 
part is particularly salient, much more so than the 
upper.* 

It being the special function of this organ to gain a 
thorough knowledge of the particular constituents of the 
subject which engages one's attention, it is found to be 
very protuberant in men who have greatly distinguished 
themselves in the natural sciences. In the mask from 
nature of the great anatomist, John Hunter, the organ of 
Individuality is very prominent. In that of Sir James 
Smith, the celebrated botanist, it is very large. In the 
portraits and busts of Buffon, Cuvier, Linngeus, and in 
many other great naturalists, whom it would be tedious to 
enumerate, it is also strikingly characteristic. 

But, though the proximity of this organ" to those of 
form, size, weight, colour, and locality, causes its attention 
to be given, when these are large, more exclusively to these 
sciences and to the fine arts ; yet, its use is by no means 
confined to such subjects. It is to a superior development 
of this organ that the poet owes the materials which 
render him renowned for the truth-like brilliancy and fer- 
tility of his descriptions, both of men and things ; and of 
places, when it is connected with large organs of Locality. 



396 INDIVIDUALITY. 

Without this, fancy and imagination would be vague and 
wanting in copiousness. This part of the forehead is 
accordingly found to be very large in the casts from 
nature of Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Moore, and George 
Crabbe. 

It was to the relative superiority of this part of the 
forehead that Canning owed the materials which gave 
point and brilliancy to his fancy and imagination, while 
the want of characteristic predominance in the same 
part in the cast of Lord Chancellor Eldon, though it is 
well-developed, accounts for the inability of that profound 
lawyer to cope with the renowned orator and statesman 
in the mental attributes which render imagination and 
fancy quick, copious, and versatile. This organ, when it 
is very large and supported by a powerful organ of Com- 
parison, induces a tendency to personify everything, even 
abstract ideas, the affections and passions. Bunyan's 
" Pilgrim's Progress " is a famous example of this turn of 
mind. And in Sharp's fine engraving of his portrait, 
the authenticity of which is, I believe, beyond question, 
the organ of Individuality is very large. In the small 
profile of Ariosto by iEnea Vico, from the medallion by 
Doni, Individuality is strongly developed, and in Spencer, 
according to a print published by the Society for the 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and in Virtue's print of 
him, the organ was remarkably prominent. And can 
there be anywhere found more exquisite examples of the 
mental tendency, engendered by this faculty, minutely to 
describe the physical attributes of objects than in the 
beautiful writings of this great poet. It was. owing to 
the superior development of this part of the forehead, 
combined with a salient organ of Comparison, that the 
poet Moore was capable of charming everyone of taste 



INDIVIDUALITY. 397 

and feeling with metaphors and similes drawn copiously 
from physical objects (see Plate 12, diagram 1). 

It was a similar prominence of the same region of the 
head that enabled Scott to delineate with such glowing 
truthfulness the charming scenery of his native land in 
the " Lady of the Lake," as well as the tumultous inci- 
dents of the battle of Flodden Field in " Marmion," in 
which everything that could make a battle intensely 
real is described in the most vivid and vigorous style. 
The influence of Eventuality, also, is strikingly manifested 
in these instances (see Plate 1). 

The tendency to indulge in minuteness of description, 
which is so striking a characteristic of the genius of 
Crabbe, took its rise in the ample development of the 
same part of the forehead (see Plate 2). 

But in the fine contemplative forehead of Wordsworth 
there is not the same relative prominence of the organ 
of Lidividuality. Yet, though this organ was not strong 
enough to cause that great poet to indulge in giving 
eloquent and poetical expression to minute details of 
things that were in their nature unpoetical, like Crabbe, 
he still had the power of using that faculty with minute 
effect when his purpose required it. 

The masks from nature of Wordsworth and Crabbe 
are marked examples of the exact coincidence of the 
relative size of the organ of Individuality in the foreheads 
of these great poets with those striking characteristics of 
their genius. Much of this diversity of taste, however, 
as has been shewn already, is due to Wordsworth's superior 
sense of poetic beauty, which is the natural result of his 
paramount organ of Ideality. 

In the mask of Dean Swift, taken after death, the 
organs of Individuality and Eventuality are both very 



398 INDIVIDUALITY. 

large, and every page of his writing is replete with 
evidence of the great capacity he had for perceiving 
objects and events, as well as for remembering, imagin- 
ing, and describing them in the minutest detail. One 
anecdote related of him proves the intense activity of 
those organs in Swift. He happened to dine at a friend's 
house, in company with a number of distinguished 
persons, and his host, observing that he looked displeased, 
asked if he was in want of anything. " Oh, no," said he, 
" I was thinking how that servant of yours, who has 
just left the room, has made no less than fifteen mistakes 
within the last few minutes." 

Things, as they are, and as they happen, are perceived 
by a person thus organised, as it were, without his taking 
any pains in looking after them, while such minute 
occurrences would pass altogether unheeded by an in- 
dividual in whom these organs are not characteristic, un- 
less it were a matter of necessity to direct attention to such 
individualities, whether they relate to objects or events. 

In order to place the fact just narrated in a still 
stronger light it may be well to mention an incident 
which was told me by a gentleman of considerable literary 
and poetical talents. u One day," said he, " I met 
William Godwin in a large company. He was standing 
with his back to the fire, apparently in deep thought, 
when a young gentleman, who stood near him, in a 
thoughtless mood, began to whistle in an under tone. 
Some time had elapsed before Godwin noticed this. 
But then, suddenly looking up in his young neighbour's 
face, he said, in a tone of voice peculiarly sarcastic, 
" Oh, it is you — is it ? " He was evidently disturbed, 
but yet his attention was not immediately caught by the 
incident which caused his annoyance. 



INDIVIDUALITY. 399 

What a contrast this anecdote exhibits to that which 
has just been related of Swift ! And what a marked 
difference there is in the configuration of the foreheads of 
these two remarkable men. Swift's is indicative of a 
mind intensely desirous of investigating the minutest 
particulars of what was happening, without any wish to 
trouble himself in searching after generalities ; Godwin's, 
of one who loved to speculate upon fewer data and was 
prone to indulge in contemplations respecting the abstract 
causes of mental phenomena, owing to the superior size 
of his organ of Causality. Swift's forehead has much of 
the character of Crabbe's, with rather more Eventuality. 
Godwin's bears a characteristic likeness to that of Words- 
worth. And perhaps Shelley was not far astray when he 
said, in his criticism on Mandeville, that Godwin was to 
prose what Wordsworth was to poetry. Abating some- 
thing of course for the radical disparity of their dispositions 
for the sentiment of veneration, which was so strikingly 
characteristic of Wordsworth's mind, was but a weak 
ingredient in the mental constitution of Godwin (see 
Plate 1). And it may be noted here that the cere- 
bral development of these great writers substantiates 
in a remarkable measure the truthfulness of Phreno- 
logy- 

This organ is very large in the masks of Curran, Home, 
Tooke, and Cobbett, and small, especially in relation 
to the fine development of the upper portion of the 
forehead, in the busts and portraits of Sir Francis Burdett, 
and certainly that distinguished baronet fell far short 
both of his political tutor and his wonderful self-taught 
protege in the faculty of displaying the functions which 
are proved to belong to the organs of Individuality and 
Eventuality. No two foreheads could be more unlike 



400 INDIVIDUALITY. 

in respect to this organ and its neighbour and associate 
Eventuality, than those of Burdett and Canning, and 
the superiority of the latter, as a political administrator, 
capable of grasping a vast amount of complicated eventful 
details, was abundantly manifested during their political 
career. In the fine and harmoniously developed forehead 
of that astute and successful politician, Talleyrand, whose 
talent for minutely observing passing events and for 
rendering them subservient to his purpose was con- 
spicuous, these organs form prominent features, while 
they are rather of subordinate magnitude in the expanded 
forehead of his celebrated countryman and cotemporary, 
Benjamin Constant, which is remarkable, according to 
his cast from nature, for the great size of the organs 
of the reflective faculties — Comparison and Causality. 
Constant, therefore, would naturally be more philo- 
sophically speculative, but less practical and versatile 
as a statesman than Talleyrand. The truthfulness 
of this phrenological deduction regarding the special 
character of Constant's intellect is corroborated hj the 
opinion entertained of him by Napoleon the First. 
"Benjamin," said the emperor, in St. Helena, "is 
reasonable in the manner of geometricians, by theorems 
and corollaries, and a great pamphlet writer." 

In great orators, who are likewise the most ready and 
effective debaters, the organs of Individuality and Even- 
tuality are strikingly prominent. In Charles James Fox, 
who was almost unrivalled as a ready and eloquent de- 
bater, these organs are very large, and even salient, 
notwithstanding the fine general development of his 
forehead. They are not quite so characteristically 
prominent in the still finer forehead of Edmund Burke, 
who could not vie with Fox as an effective and persuasive 



INDIVIDUALITY. 40L 

debater, although the superiority of his genius as an 
orator and statesman can scarcely be denied. 

In the Earl of Derby the development of this part of 
the forehead is remarkably prominent. And has he not 
been called u the Rupert of debate," owing to the point, 
brilliancy, aud effectiveness of his oratorical powers ? The 
same part is remarkably large even amidst the well- 
balanced organs of Mr. Gladstone's wide forehead, and 
is not that distinguished orator and successful adminis- 
trator pre-eminently gifted with the faculty of bringing 
forward in the minutest detail, out of the well-filled store- 
house of his memory such facts as tend to illustrate and 
to strengthen his opinions ? In the portraits of Grattan 
and Brougham the organ of Individuality is of paramount 
development. And what a difference in this respect in 
the casts from nature of Brougham and Godwin present, 
and how opposite was the tenour of their intellectual 
career. For while the great intellect of the latter .displayed 
no aptness for pursuing the study of the physical sciences, 
such pursuits were peculiarly adapted to the versatile 
talents of Henry Brougham. 

The separate existence of this faculty, called by Gall 
the Sense of Things and by Spurzheim, Individuality, is 
a fact sustained by evidence the most conclusive and un- 
equivocal, and that the exact position of its organ in the 
brain has been truly pointed out and denned cannot be 
doubted by any earnest inquirer. Neither can it be main- 
tained as a fact that the frontal sinus presents an obstacle 
fatal to the forming of a sufficiently accurate estimate 
of the size of the organ, even beyond the time of middle 
life, as has been already shewn. And the non-existence 
of the sinus in early life is a fact that has long ago been 

P F 



402 INDIVIDUALITY. 

fixed beyond the sphere of doubt by testimony the most 
trustworthy and clearly demonstrative. 

In conclusion, it should be borne in mind that men 
who give their attention with alacrity to the dry details 
of things, have always a conspicuous development of the 
forehead directly and immediately above the root of the 
nose. And it is equally certain that men of superior 
talents, who do not trouble themselves about mere statis- 
tical details, and who have not the disposition to master 
them, are endowed with a comparatively scanty develop- 
ment of the same part. Of the former, the cast of the 
indefatigable Joseph Hume is a striking example, and the 
bust of his more brilliant cotemporary political reformer, 
Sir Francis Burdett, affords a remarkable instance of" 
the latter. It is found to be a prominent feature in 
eminent actuaries. It is very large in the cast of Mr. 
Finlayson. And in an esteemed and highly respected 
friend of my own, a most successful actuary, it is very 
large (see Plate 7). 



FOBM 



Contiguous to the convolution of the brain which is 
called the organ of the Sense of Tilings, or Individuality, 
there lies another convolution, which has for its function 
the perception and appreciation of the forms of things. 
Like the former, this proceeds forward over the inner 
portion of the thin plate of bone, which forms the roof of 
the orbit of the eye, till it comes to within about half an 
inch of the brow, where it is crossed by the convolution 
which is the organ of Size. In consequence of this 
arrangement of parts the external sign of the organ of 
Form shews itself just over the inner angle of the eyelids, 
and is more easily seen in those whose eyes are not promi- 
nent than in those whom Homer would call ox-eyed. In 
Canova, for instance, whose eyes were rather sunken, 
than in Voltaire, whose eyes were remarkably protuberant. 
Since the superior interior part of the long plate of the 
orbit grows over this convolution it follows that the orbit 
must be convex or depressed at that part, according to the 
greater or less development of the convolution. When it 
is large, therefore, the eyeball, having less room in that 
part of its socket, is pressed as it were, downwards and 
outwards. Its actual amount of development is, therefore, 
to be estimated by the degree of width existing between 
the eyes. But, it should be borne in mind that it would 
not always be right to predicate the presence of a large 

F f 2 



404 FOKM. 

organ of Form, when there is a great distance between 
the eyes ; for the aethmoid bone, behind the root of the 
nose, is sometimes very broad, and the eyes are con- 
sequently separated widely ; but, yet in such a case, the 
organ of Form, lying on each side of the cribriform plate 
of that bone, through which the sub-divided fibrils of the 
olfactory nerve pass down into the nose, may not be 
very large. 

The measure of this organ has sometimes been estimated 
by the thickness of the root of the nose. But acute 
practical enquirers will soon learn to see that this is not 
a true criterion. For example, the root of the nose, in 
the mask of Canova is thin, and yet the organ of Form 
is very large, while the organ is very moderately 
developed in the cast of Dr. Gall, although the root of 
the nose is thicker. In the bust of Sterne, by Nollekens, 
and those of Byron, by Thorwaldsen and Bartolini, the 
root of the nose is thin. But the organ of Form is 
large in Sterne and small in Byron. I have occasionally 
seen clever phrenologists fail to point out the seat of this 
organ in the scull, from thus relying on the thickness at 
the root of the nose as a criterion. 

That Form is a quality of bodies quite distinct from 
their size, weight, or colour, cannot admit of a doubt. 
And that it is a faculty which bears no settled propor- 
tion to the other mental faculties is a fact beyond all 
question. It is certain that both Barry, West, Flaxman, 
and Canova possessed good general abilities, but it would 
be hazardous to say that either of them could ever cope 
with William Cobbett as a powerful and versatile writer 
and thinker on political affairs. And yet Cobbett seemed 
to be incapable of forming any estimate of the beautiful 
forms of the Elgin marbles, which are so true to nature, 



FORM. 405 

and so charming in the eyes of those who are endowed 
with a large organ of Form. To be sure, a great genius 
like Byron, so highly endowed with the sense of the 
beautiful, in whatever shape it appears, could describe 
the dying Gladiator in a strain of exalted poetry, both 
touching and natural. But it is not the exquisite form of 
this figure which arrested the poet's attention. There 
is not even a single allusion to the beauty of its form. It 
is the sentiments and ideas, which its attitudes suggest, 
that are so vividly and pathetically expressed, the mere 
recital of which fills the heart with its warmest and 
fondest recollections. 

When this organ is well developed it is attended with 
the love of painting and of sculpture, and it is this faculty 
that prompts young persons to devote their lives, often 
under sore privations and embarrassments, to the practice 
of those delightful arts. 

The sense of configuration is more requisite for the 
portrait painter, sculptor, and architect, than to the 
landscape painter, to whom a keen sense of locality is 
more necessary. To the historical painter it is quite 
indispensable. And I have invariably found that those 
artists, who have distinguished themselves as landscape 
painters, are always large where the organ of Locality 
lies, though that of Form may be moderate, while form 
is invariably large in those who have succeeded best in 
historical and portrait painting, whether locality be 
prominent or not. The faculty of Imitation seems to be 
more necessary as an effective auxiliary to that of Form 
than that of Locality. And, supposing the organs of 
Locality and Form to be equally well developed in the 
same individual, a large organ of Imitation would lead 
him to the painting of portraits rather than landscape, 



406 FORM. 

and to historical painting in preference to either, if the 
organs of Individuality, Eventuality, and Time be promi- 
nent. The organ of the sense of the beautiful — Ideality 
— is an incentive to landscape painting, from its tendency 
to withdraw the thoughts from active worldly pursuits, 
especially if form be not a salient feature. And if the 
sense of the ludicrous be predominant the man with 
artistic talents will devote himself to humorous subjects 
and shine in caricature. 

The channel through which the artistic faculty of Form 
takes its course, then, depends upon the predominance of 
certain other faculties which are acting in unison with it. 
It should be understood that a person endowed with a fine 
development of the organ of Form may be totally incapa- 
ble of drawing well, owing to the want of manual 
dexterity, a faculty which is the result of a good develop- 
ment of the organ of Constructiveness, acting in com- 
bination with those of Form, Size, and Imitation. Still, 
wherever a large organ of Form is seen, there can be no 
hesitation in predicating the existence of the capacity of 
perceiving, remembering, and instinctively appreciating 
forms and their harmonious combinations. Nor can their 
be a doubt that persons, who collect prints and pictures, 
especially such as comprise fine and expressive human 
forms, will always be found to have this organ large. 
Very young persons in whom it is well developed, feel 
a charm in looking at pictures, which does not arise 
merely from juvenile curiosity. Chantrey and Canova, 
when mere children, and without any previous training, 
surprised their friends by their successful attempts at 
modelling figures, and Sir Thomas Laurence, evinced 
great talent for drawing in the clays of his early child- 
hood. In the casts from nature of all of these the organ 



form. 407 

of Form is strikingly marked. But in the portraits and 
busts of Michael Angelo the organ is much larger than 
it is in either of them. So large, indeed, was the organ 
in that wonderful genius, that he remarked, himself, 
that a sculptor, to whom he sat for his bust, must have 
mistaken the true position of his eyes, for he had placed 
them so widely apart that the form could not possibly 
resemble nature. The sculptor might have exceeded the 
proper bounds, but their can scarcely be any doubt that 
the man followed nature closely, and that Michael 
Angelo's face was characterised by an extraordinary 
width between the eyes. In Longhi's beautiful engraving 
of him, after a picture by the great original himself, the 
organ of Form is exceedingly large. In several beautiful 
■engravings of Raphael, after authentic paintings by him- 
self, the development of the same organ is equally con- 
spicuous. And, certainly, no one ever excelled this 
almost divine artist in the power of appreciating and 
producing forms the most exquisite and natural. In 
Albert Durer, Titian, Rubens, and all those geniuses, who 
have excelled in the delineation of the human form, this 
organ is remarkably large. 

On the other hand it is a fact, which has been over and 
over again tested, and consequently confirmed as one of 
nature's truths, that a scanty development of this part of 
the brain is always associated with an insurmountable in- 
aptitude to appreciate harmonious combinations of form. 
J3ven the versatile genius of Cobbett was incapable of seeing 
and appreciating any beauty, or charm of any kind, in such 
things. And lest the unpoetic mould in which his mind 
was cast should be supposed to afford a plausible reason 
for this mental deficiency, it is only necessary to advert 
once more to the case of Byron, Avhose power of appre- 



408 FORM. 

ciating form, for its own sake — a sense in which it was the 
delight and glory of Michael Angelo and Eaphael to 
cultivate it — was very limited : although his excessively 
elevated and enthusiastic sense of poetic beauty caused 
him to be a powerful exponent of the sentiments which 
some attitudes are intended and calculated to convey. But 
still some passages in his poems would lead one to suppose 
that he possessed a very scanty endowment of the organ of 
Form ; and, as I have already stated, his portraits and busts 
confirm that supposition. An extract from " Childe 
Harold " will illustrate his want of care for the beauty of 
form, abstracted from all other considerations : — 

" There be more things to greet the heart and eyes 
In Arno's dome of arts, most princely shrine, 
Where sculpture with her rainbow sister vies ; 
There he more marvels yet — but not for mine ; 
For I have been accustomed to entwine 
My thoughts with nature rather in the fields 
Than art in galleries ; though a work divine 
Calls for my spirit's homage, yet it yields 
Less than it feels, because the weapon which it wields 

" Is of another temper, and I roam 
By Thrasamene's lake, in the defiles 
Fatal to Roman rashness, more at home. " 

And in "Don Juan," he says, 

" I've seen much finer women ripe and real 
Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal." 

This may be quite true ; but the term nonsense, used to- 
designate the divine art, even in sport, indicates the 
absence of a fine perception of beauty in simple form, wheix 
all other attributes are abstracted from it. 

How opposite is the case as to his friend Samuel Eogers, 
who was a refined lover and judge of the beauties of 



FORM. 40& 

sculpture and of painting; and how superior was the 
development of form in his bust. 

In the head of Dr. Gall the organ of Form was small : 
and it is a fact that he could not recognise a person whom 
he had sat next to at dinner, were he to meet him on the 
following day. 

The existence and seat of the organ of Form is established 
beyond doubt. 



SIZE 



Next to the convolution which is the organ of Form, 
lies that which perceives Size and Dimension. But, 
unlike the former, this shews itself on the eyebrow, con- 
tiguous to Individuality. When it is large, a marked 
prominence is perceptible on each side of the root of the 
nose. And it is an obvious fact that the development of 
this small portion of the brain is great in some heads and 
small in others, and that its relative proportion to the 
parts around it varies in almost every individual. To feel 
perfectly assured of this fact it is only necessary to 
compare the casts of Canova and Sir Thomas Laurence 
with those of William Godwin and George Crabbe ; or 
that of John Clare, the peasant poet, with the cast of 
George Stevenson, the self-taught engineering genius. 
Or let a strict comparison be instituted between the fine 
heads of Lord Mansfield and Lord Grenville, as they are 
represented in the busts by Nollekens, and those of John 
Rennie and James Watt, by Chantrey, and the great 
disparity in the saliency of this particular part will be 
instantly seen. To the great engineers the talent for 
judging of size, dimension, and the proportion and fitness 
of parts in the construction of machinery was of course 
indispensable ; while such a faculty could be but of little 
moment to the two great statesmen, to whom the Creator 
awarded that which their calling demanded, namely a 






SIZE. 411 

powerful organ of Language, which was denied to the 
other two. Those who evince marked ability in appreciat- 
ing and calculating the distance of objects from one 
another, as well as their relative size, are remarkable for 
.a large development of this part of the eyebrow. It is 
particularly conspicuous in the masks from nature of Sir 
Isaac Newton and Sir William Herschell. I have already 
named some eminent geniuses in whom this organ was 
small, who were not instinctively led to pursuits which 
demand the presence of such a faculty. In the collection 
of the late Mr. Deville there was the cast of a gentleman 
who found a difficulty in perceiving the vast height of 
St. Paul's dome, as compared to the houses lying around 
it, and it was a gratifying fact in affirmation of the truth 
to find a marked depression of the brow at the seat of the 
organ of Size. One can scarcely imagine how it is 
possible such a deficiency of perceptive power could exist. 
But, if it is proved beyond doubt that some persons are 
incapable of distinguishing the colours of objects, there is 
nothing unreasonable in supposing that an individual 
might be found who is incapable of appreciating the 
relative heights and distances of things, which differ 
considerably in size. How striking the contrast between 
this mask and that of Sir Mark Isambart Brunei. 

In all men, who display great talent for drawing the 
human figure correctly, this part of the eyebrow is 
remarkably full. Such is the case, without exception, in 
all great draughtsmen. It is sometimes supposed that 
the faculty of Form combined with manual dexterity is 
sufficient for the mere mechanical department of art, but 
form may be correctly represented, although parts may 
be wanting in their due proportion as to size. The 
faculties of Form and Size, indeed, are perfectly distinct 



412 size: 

from one another, though their mutual co-operation is 
indispensable to the attainment of practical skill in drawing 
or modelling. A pistol bullet and a cannon ball may be 
both spherical. The faculty of Form, of itself perceives 
their roundness ; but cannot appreciate their comparative 
dimension. Another? and a perfectly distinct faculty is, 
therefore, necessary to give the power of perceiving the 
relative size of objects. And experience affords evidence 
that the organ of this faculty is located as I have already 
pointed out. The organ is quite established. 



WEIGHT-SENSE OF RESISTANCE. 



The degree of ability to appreciate the relative weight 
of bodies is in proportion to the strength of the sense 
of resistance with which an individual is endowed. And 
as this internal sense is entirely different in its quality 
from the senses of form, size, and colour, it necessarily 
follows that there must be an organ of the brain which 
is exclusively devoted to its manifestation. 

Spurzheim, having convinced himself by reasoning 
that this faculty had a separate, independent existence, 
sought for its organ, and he rationally conjectured that 
it would be found in the vicinity of those of form and 
size. Subsequent investigation, which has been kept 
up with scrupulous attention to facts, has fully confirmed 
the opinion of that acute philosopher. 

Everyone must have observed that some persons can, 
even without much practice, throw a weight from the 
hand with much greater accuracy of aim than others, 
who may be more accustomed to such bodily feats. The 
cause of this superiority will be found in the superior 
development of the organs of Locality, Size, and Weight. 
Long experience has thoroughly convinced me of the 
truth of this unvarying coincidence. I have also observed 
that persons, possessed of great bodily agility, can point 
out with great accuracy the spot they mean to spring to, 
when these organs are large, and that others who are 



414 WEIGHT. 

incapable of doing the same, whatever their amount of 
agility may be, are possessed of a comparatively scanty 
development of these parts of the forehead. There can 
be no difficulty in seeing how this is. A powerful organ 
of Size enables its possessor to judge accurately of the 
distance he has to traverse, and a large organ of the 
Sense of Resistance imparts the faculty of estimating the 
force or impulse necessary for the projection of a body 
of a certain weight to a given distance. 

Without these powers the simple mechanical instinct 
of Archimedes never could have enabled him to destroy 
the Roman galleys in the Bay of Syracuse with his pro- 
jectiles, and it was his self-taught skill and experimental 
knowledge in the act of applying to moveable bodies 
the degree of force sufficient to overcome their ponderous 
resistance, that led him to feel assured that he could move 
this globe of earth if he could only obtain a proper 
fulcrum. The development of this organ, as well as of" 
those which act in concert with it, is exceedingly great 
in the antique bust of that wonderful mechanician. The 
same part is very prominent in the most authentic busts 
of Julius Caesar, and his bridge across the Rhine gave 
ample evidence of the superior power of the same corres- 
ponding faculties in that great man. In the authentic 
bust of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa the same sort of 
development is conspicuous, while in the busts of Cicero, 
Horace, Lucian, and Theocritus it is not at all salient. 
In a cotemporary profile of Michael Angelo, engraved 
by the celebrated Bonasone, this part of the forehead is 
very large, and the power he possessed of adapting the 
force or weight of his stroke to the quantity of marble 
which he wished to displace, was, it is told, of the highest 
order. The heads of all great practical engineers are 



WEIGHT. 415 

characterised by a predominant development of the same 
organs. In Smeaton, Kennie, and the elder Brunei, 
in Watt, Stevenson, Trevethick, Eoberts, and many 
others, with the forms of whose heads I am well acquainted, 
through authentic casts and busts, this part of the head 
is remarkably large. Watchmakers, renowned for their 
practical genius in devising machinery for marking the pro- 
gress of time, were, according to the best engraved portaits 
that remain of them, endowed with a very marked fullness 
of this part of the head. In such artificers as these the 
keenest perception of weight and of the fitness of parts 
in regard to their relative size must be indispensable. 
•The existence and seat of this organ is still further illus- 
trated in the portraits of the most renowned " line 
engravers," for the force necessary for making a fine 
sweeping line, which is in itself, without the aid of cross 
lines, capable of conveying to the mind of the spectator 
a true idea of natural light and shade, depends upon a 
keen perception of the exact amount of resistance to be 
overcome by the graver. And it will invariably be found 
that in proportion to the strength of this talent the organ 
of Weight will be more or less developed. This faculty 
is admirably displayed in some of the early engravings 
of the great French artist, Nanteuil. William Sharp 
possessed the same talent in an eminent degree, and few 
have equalled Houbraken in the fineness and exquisite 
finish of his line engraving. In the great English engraver 
of sea pieces, Woollett, the organs of Weight and Size 
are very characteristic. And the portrait of this engraver 
who never, so far as I know, attempted to engrave a 
portrait or historical picture, affords a striking illustration 
of the distinction between the faculties of Form and 
Size which Phrenology so clearly demonstrates. In him 



416 WEIGHT. 

tlie organ of Form was very moderately developed, while 
that of Size was a prominent feature. Through the 
strength of the latter he was enabled to form an accurate 
conception of perspective, but from the comparative 
smallness of the organ of Form, supposing the portrait 
at the South Kensington Museum to be correct, I should 
infer that, as an original draughtsman, Woollett possessed 
but little genius, especially where the human form 
required to be depicted, while Locality and Size gave 
him power to appreciate with superior accuracy the 
relative proportion and distance, as well as the position 
of objects which constitute landscape, and his Imitation 
and Constructiveness, with a superior organ of Weight, 
caused him to be unrivalled in imparting the qualities 
not only of transparency, but almost of liquidity and motion 
to his exquisite engravings of sea pieces. This organ is 
fully established. 



COLOUR 



To Dr. Gall is due the discovery of this organ. But 
before he thought of meeting with an organ of Colour, 
he was struck with the fact, that some persons were 
incapable of distinguishing one colour from another. 
And he says he was " especially struck by a bookseller 
at Augsburg, blind from birth, who maintained that it 
is not the eye, but the intellect, which recognises, 
judges, and creates the proportion of colour." "This 
man," says Grail, " even assures us, that, by means of 
an internal sense, he has precise notions of colours, and 
it is a fact that he determines their harmony with exact- 
ness. He has a great number of beads of coloured glass ; 
he forms with them different figures, and the arrange- 
ment of the colours is always harmonious. He tells among 
other facts, that, whenever he takes pains to arrange the 
colours of a ground, he feels pain immediately above the 
eyes, especially above the right eye. And," he continues, 
" the region which I have above indicated is considerably 
developed in this man." 

There is one point in this case which is important and 
interesting in a psychological and phrenological light, and 
that is the pain which this blind man felt after having 
given strenuous attention to the harmonious arrangement 
of his coloured beads. 

It is scarcely necessary to remind anyone of the fact, 

GG 



418 COLOUR. 

that, in the active operations of the brain, that part of it 
which is subjected to the greatest amount of intense 
exertion, is the part, which, according to the laws of 
nature, first affords evidence of its having been exclu- 
sively over-exercised. In treating of the different affec- 
tions, I have mentioned some cases illustrative of this 
fact, and here again there appeared in a man, blind from 
birth, who took delight in the harmonious arrangement 
of colours, a susceptibility of being affected by pain in 
the centre of the eyebrow, whenever his attention was 
devoted, with great intensity, to the production of such 
harmonious arrangement. It also appears that the centre 
of the brow was considerably developed in this man. And 
Gall, having found that the same part of the brow was 
similarly formed and prominent in the heads of great 
painters, and seeing that the more these excelled as 
colourists, the greater was the fulness of the centre of 
the brow, he named that part the organ of the Sense of 
the Relation of Colours. 

That such an internal sense exists, independent of the 
aid of the external sense of sight, no doubt can be enter- 
tained, if this case be admitted as a fact, and those whom 
experience has afforded the true means of judging, cannot, 
in reason, doubt for a moment, the conscientious accuracy 
of Gall, who was a most acute and penetrating investigator 
of facts, as well as a profound and comprehensive thinker. 
And the fact of a blind man feeling pain in the seat of 
that organ, which is so strikingly characteristic of a 
successful colourist among painters, is strong circum- 
stantial evidence to shew that there exists a special organ 
of colour, and that its seat is in the centre of the eye- 
brow, where the pain was felt. 

It is to be regretted that Gall did not say whether the 



COLOTTK. 419 

man was capable of selecting beads of different colours, 
as he required them, for the different combinations he 
was desirous of producing, or whether he wanted the 
assistance of some one, who could see, to hand him colours, 
which he knew, hj an instinctive internal sense, would 
blend harmoniously. Probably, as compositors have each 
letter in a box for itself, so may this blind man have had 
3ns different coloured beads, each in its own compartment. 
It is hard to believe that the external sense of Touch 
could, in any case, be used as a substitute for the sense 
of seeing, where the perception of colour is concerned. 

A case was brought before the Phrenological Society of 
London, when Dr. Elliotson was president, by the late 
Dr. Moore, which imparts much force to this doubt of 
mine. It was this : A decent poor man of the name of 
Davis, from the west of England, was introduced at the 
Society's rooms in Panton Square, by Doctor Moore, as an 
extraordinary example of a blind man, who was continually 
travelling for the mere delight of moving about from place 
to place ; as well as to shew how exactly this propensity 
to travel corresponded with the immense development of 
the organ of Locality by which this man's forehead was 
conspicuously characterized, notwithstanding the good 
development of the organs surrounding it, with the single 
exception of the organ of Colour, which was much inferior 
to the rest. This man lost his sight in the fifth or sixth 
year of his age. In order to test the possibility of selecting 
colours by the touch, he was asked whether he thought 
colours could be distinguished by that sense. He replied 
that he did not think it possible. It certainly was an im- 
possibility to himself. Now, this inability did not proceed 
from want of a nice sense of touch : for, so sensitive was 
this man as to touch, that he walked through the streets of 

G G 2 



420 COLOUR. 

London without a guide, or even a stick, and yet avoided" 
knocking himself against a post or a corner. He accounted' 
for this by saying he felt a peculiar impression, which 
warned him that something was in his way. He was 
asked how, after being once directed to Dr. Moore's house, 
in Lincoln's Inn Fields, he could go in a direct course to 
the gate, and turn into the space in front of the house, 
without making enquiry, and how he distinguished that 
gate from any other. He said that, within a certain dis- 
tance of Dr. Moore's house, a peculiar sensation warned- 
him that he was walking by something higher than himself, 
and that this feeling vanished when he approached 
Dr. Moore's house ; and he then felt assured that he was- 
on the right track. 

Here, evidently, there existed a fine sense of what may be 
called touch without contact ; and, if touch could enable 
anyone to discriminate colours, one might expect the 
presence of such a faculty in this instance. I am, there- 
fore, inclined to suspect that no such power exists in the- 
sense of touch. It is to be regretted that Grail was not 
more explicit as to the manner in which the blind book- 
seller of Augsburg made choice of his coloured beads. 
But, apart from this question, the case adduced by G-all 
establishes the important fact that to appreciate colours,, 
and to feel delighted in contemplating the harmonious 
arrangement of them, it is not absolutely necessary to 
possess ,the external sense of sight. And the pain which 
was felt by the blind man of Augsburg, in the seat of what 
is proved to be the organ of the Sense of Colour, by a vast 
amount of both negative and affirmative evidence, is con- 
firmatory of the existence of both the internal sense and 
the exact situation of its organ. 

It is, also, an interesting fact that the blind man, Davis,. 



COLOUR. 421 

who might, from having had the power of seeing in his 
early childhood, be supposed to retain a distinct recollec- 
tion of colours, seemed incapable of recalling vivid impres- 
sions of them. He thought he could remember the colour 
of the grass, and some other hues. But he owned that 
his idea of colour was very indistinct. Now, this partial 
incapacity to remember colours was in accordance with his 
poor development of the convolution of the brain which 
occupies the centre of the eyebrow, and is about half an 
inch broad. This is the organ of the Sense of the Relation 
of Colours. In Davis, when viewed in connexion with the 
parts around it, this organ was depressed. Hence arose 
his inability to revive his dormant sense of colour. 

That a marked depression of the centre of the eyebrows 
is always a striking characteristic of the cerebral develop- 
ment of any one who wants the power to distinguish 
colours, there is abundant evidence to shew. 

Dr. Spurzheim saw a person in Dublin, who was fond 
•of drawing, but he could not distinguish colours, and 
painted a tree red instead of green. He also mentions 
the case of Mr. Ottley, of Dublin, who could only dis- 
tinguish the shades of green and red. If dark green 
and light red were placed before him he could distinguish 
the one from the other as differing in shade, but if 
dark green and dark red were placed together, he could 
not perceive any difference between them, he would say 
that the colour was the same. " He would say," says 
Spurzheim, u I receive one impression from the dark 
red and the dark green, and another impression from 
the light red and the light green, but the species of 
impression is the same. 

I met with a case that exactly resembled this. A 
young gentleman was incapable of distinguishing red 



422 COLOUR. 

from green or blue. And although these colours were 
repeatedly placed before him and named, he would, if 
asked a few miuutes after to point out the red, be sure 
to select the green or blue. Sometimes by chance he 
would point out one or the other, but next moment he 
would be again at fault. He could, however, distinguish 
the difference in shade. He would say that one was 
darker than the other. And when the same cloth was 
shewn to him frequently, he would sometimes name 
the colour correctly, but that was owing to his remem- 
brance of the names we gave to the dark colour and 
light one, as he himself acknowledged. Apparently all 
he could discern was the comparative depth of shade in. 
colours. In the centre of the eyebrow of this youth 
there was a depression about half an inch in breadth,, 
and a like deficiency was equally manifest in the mask 
of Mr. Ottley, which I have seen in Deville's collection. 
In that museum there was, also, a cast of Mr. Milne 
a brassfounder of Glasgow, in which the organ of colour 
was remarkably depressed. This man, who could not 
distinguish colours, called one day for his coat at an inn r 
but being unable to describe the true colour of it, the 
waiter appeared to suspect him, which excited him to 
the highest pitch of honest indignation. He was, I 
believe, at that time unconscious of his inability to per- 
ceive or distinguish colours. There was the cast of 
another man in that collection who could only distinguish 
black and white. He did not seem to be affected by 
any colour. The middle of the eyebrow was very much 
depressed in this cast. 

Many years ago I was requested by a most respected 
and able Wesleyan Minister to give him a phrenological 
estimate of his talents and disposition. During the 



COLOUE. 423 

examination of his head I was struck with the smallness 
of the organ of Colour on the left eyebrow as compared 
with that on the right. I then said it was probable he 
could distinguish colours accurately enough ; but that it 
would be interesting to know whether he could not 
distinguish colours better through the left eye than the 
right. He then placed his hand upon his right eye and 
instantly described with accuracy the various colours of 
the carpet. He then closed his left eye, and the carpet 
appeared to be a muddy brown, without any variety of 
colour. He said that this recalled to his mind a circum- 
stance which occurred to him many years before, and 
which he could never account for ; but that Phrenology 
solved the mystery. One evening when he was kneeling 
at prayer before an old-fashioned high-backed chair, 
divided in the centre of the back by an upright bar, he 
saw on the left side the carpet as it had always appeared 
to him, while on the right side of the rail it seemed to be 
entirely jlivested of colours and assumed a uniform muddy 
or dirty appearance. 

To account for this curious phenomenon one can suppose 
that, when the mind is intently directed to one absorbing 
subject, the eyes may, each of them, gaze outwardly, so 
that for a moment, one of them may see an object which 
the other does not. Indeed, it is certain that when some 
persons are absorbed in thought their eyes, though 
naturally free from obliquity, will occasionally diverge 
from their usual directness ; and thus will their action 
become distinct and independent. 

To an anatomist my reason for choosing one eye rather 
than the other, in the case just cited, will be obvious 
enough, when the crossing of the fibres of the optic nerves 
at their junction is taken into consideration. 



424 COLOUE. 

In this case it is certain that the right eye was as 
capable of discerning objects and, with the single excep- 
tion of colour, their qualities, as the left. It cannot, 
therefore, be said that the defect lay in the eye itself. It 
must then, be the organ of Colour in the brain that failed 
in the performance of its function. But its incapacity 
existed only in the organ or convolution that was seated 
in the left hemisphere. Can there, then, be a more 
decided and direct proof, than this case affords, of the fact, 
that a well developed sound organ, on one side of the 
brain, can perform its function with sufficient accuracy, 
although its counterpart, on the other side, may be incapa- 
ble of performing its function at all through insufficient 
development. 

This case strikes home at the very root of those 
reiterated objections which have been put forward by 
those enquirers who are more prone to indulge in 
uncertain conjecture than in scrutinising efforts to dis- 
cover nature's facts, as well as to unravel the knotty 
points of mental philosophy by a careful analysis of 
phenomena, which alone can throw light upon the sub- 
ject. It will be seen, of course, that I allude to the 
objectors who have said that Phrenology cannot be true, 
because mental faculties continue to be manifested, when 
the brain has been injured either by accident or disease. 
For, it has been invariably the fact, that, on all such 
cited and assumed antagonistic cases, one side of the 
brain only was affected. 

To any man who is not speculatively fastidious, and 
such is not the one who is inclined to traverse with a 
watchful eye the wide field which Gall has trodden, and 
from whence he collected the only durable materials by 
which a true system of mental philosophy could be con- 



COLOUK. 425 

structed, to any man not thus constituted, such cases 
appear perfectly in accordance with reason. 

With regard to the affirmative proofs of the existence 
of an organ of Colour they are to be seen in the portraits, 
busts, and casts of the most distinguished masters in the 
art of painting — men, who surpassed as colourists others 
to whom they were inferior as draughtsmen. 

Few indeed, if any, could cope with Claude in the 
exquisite beauty and poetic grace of his colouring, and 
yet he has left no specimen of his superior talent as a 
delineator of form. In his portrait there is a great fulness 
in the centre of the eyebrow. A fine development of the 
same part is also conspicuous in the best portraits of 
Titian, Rubens, Vandyke, Rembrandt and others, who are 
remarkable for the exquisiteness of their colouring. 

Like every other faculty this of Colour is possessed in 
a different measure by different artists. And the de- 
velopment of this part of the head has always been found 
to be duly proportioned to the extent of the faculty. 
The genius of James Barry did not enable him to imbue 
his extraordinary productions with combinations of colour, 
so exquisite and fascinating, as those that render the truly 
tender and natural, but less ambitious works of William 
Mulready, so charming. Neither can the works of West 
■at all vie, successfully, with those of Etty, in the quality 
of his colouring. Now, it is certain that the organ of 
Colour is but moderately developed in the mask from 
nature of Barry, while it is very full in Mr. C. Moore's 
excellent bust of Mulready. And its development in the 
. casts from nature of West is not at all so considerable as 
it appeared in Etty. In the cast after death of our great 
landscape painter, Turner, the organ is very salient, and 
it was well marked in the late Francis Danby, in whom it 



426 COLOUR. 

was united with a dreamy but yet fervent sense of the 
beautiful in nature and in art — a power which heightens 
the effect of any faculty or organ. In the cast from nature 
of the celebrated Fuseli it is not so well developed as it 
is in the portraits of Reynolds and Gainsborough. And 
though he possessed genius, and a wild kind of origi- 
nality, he had not the ability to equal in beauty the 
colouring which renders Gainsborough's landscapes so 
charming, and which is also so conspicuous in the " Boy 
in Blue," a work capable of vieing, dare it be said, with 
one by Titian himself ; as well as in the exquisite and affect- 
ing picture of the poor child with the " Broken Pitcher," 
which could hold its place by the side of a Murillo ; and, 
also, in that most finished portrait of Mrs. Siddons, now 
in the gallery at South Kensington. The great eminence 
of Sir Joshua as a colourist is so well known that it would 
be superfluous to say a word respecting it. To use the 
eloquent language of his great and beloved friend Edmund 
Burke, " His portraits remind the spectator of the inven- 
tion of history, and the amenity of landscape." 

There cannot be the slightest doubt of the separate 
existence of this faculty of colour ; and, that the seat and 
external appearance of its organ in the brain is unerringly 
fixed, no conscientious and careful observer of facts, after 
the manner of Gall, can hesitate to declare his thorough 
conviction. 



LOCALITY. 



The first intimation which Gall had of the probable 
existence of a special faculty for remembering the rela- 
tions of places in space arose, as has been elsewhere stated, 
from the fact that in his boyhood he never could retrace 
his steps to places in woods where he had found out 
birds' nests, although he took care to fix landmarks in 
the ground for his guidance, while a schoolfellow of his,. 
a boy of very moderate talents, could find his way back 
without any difficulty, and could not understand why 
Gall was utterly incapable of doing the same. Neither 
did Gall understand the cause. But his surprising and 
precocious sagacity instantly suggested that the cause of 
so strange a phenomena would be found to lie in the 
shape of the head, as he had already found the capacity 
for getting off words by heart to be accompanied by a 
prominence of the eyes. 

With a view of testing this conjecture he took a cast 
of this boy's head, and subsequently moulded the heads. 
of others whose recollection of places was a marked feature 
of their intellects. 

These casts he found to be very different in their general 
form, but after comparing them many times he was at 
length struck with what was a point equally conspicuous 
in all of them. This consisted of a prominence above 



428 LOCALITY. 






the root of the nose on each side of Individuality, and 
running obliquely upwards and outwards. 

In his great work, Gall affords abundant evidence to 
shew that the same part of the head forms a marked 
feature in every one who has ever manifested a strong 
tendency to travel. 

When this organ is predominant it induces restlessness, 
and renders it irksome to remain long in any one place. 
And it is to its dominant energy that the migratory 
tendency of some species of birds is entirely due. 

This tendency certainly cannot arise, as some philo- 
sophers have supposed, from unpleasant changes in the 
weather, for the nightingale and cuckoo remain with us 
till their usual time for departure, no matter whether 
the summer be inclement and rainy, or genial and sun- 
shiny. And do we not find our sparrows and other 
stationary birds bear the intense severity of some of our 
winters without attempting to migrate, although they 
die by hundreds from cold and hunger ? Nor is the 
redbreast prompted to migrate before his time though 
lie be driven to take shelter in our very dwellings to 
relieve himself of cold and hunger. 

Again, it has been said that the old birds call the 
young ones together and induce them to accompany them 
on their long journey, and that, therefore, it is to education 
the migratory tendency of birds is to be attributed. But 
to what, it may be asked, are we to attribute the dis- 
position of the first swallows to set out upon their long 
and perilous journey ? A fact mentioned by Gall sets 
this point as to education in a clear light. " I exposed," 
says Gall, " some young cuckoos in my garden, that they 
might be fed by other birds. While the other cuckoos 
remained in the country the two young ones which I had 



LOCALITY. 429 

reared did not quit the garden, but disappeared at the 
period of the migration of their species, though they had 
no communication with any of the old ones. 

One fact like this is worth more than a thousand con- 
jectural arguments. And it is not to be overlooked as 
evidence of strong memory of place, that migratory birds 
not only return in clue season to the same country, but 
also to the same part of the country, and even to the 
same nest. 

Is it not a refined sense of the relative position of 
places that enables the carrier pigeons to convey mes- 
sages to and from places, very remote from one another, 
without missing their way? Dr. Gall mentions a case 
where a male and female pigeon were carried a distance of 
eighty leagues into the Voralberg, and then set at liberty. 
They both returned home. The strong local memory 
of some dogs is proverbial, but their power of returning 
home from great distances has been attributed to the 
sense of smell. Many instances, however, plainly show 
that smell, though it may act as an effective auxiliary, 
cannot be the true and principal source of this power. 

Among several cases mentioned by Gall, there is one 
of a dog that was sent from Lyons to Marseilles, where 
he was embarked for Naples, whence he returned by land 
to Lyons. "Again," he says, "A gamekeeper in my 
native country sold a hound to another hunter, who 
lived more than a hundred leagues off, in the very heart 
of Hungary. Some time after, they were informed by 
letter that the dog had escaped, and after some months 
he arrived at his old master's wasted with fatigue." A 
few years ago I was struck with the beauty of a pointer 
on board a ship lying in the East India Docks, and bound 
for New Zealand. The dog belonged to a lady from 



430 LOCALITY. 

the neighbourhood of Dublin, who was going to join 
her brother in that distant land. Being attracted by the 
height of the dog's head, and its great width just above 
the eyes, I asked the lady — and I felt sure of getting an 
answer in the affirmative — if her dog was not a very 
sagacious one, one that could find out its way well. 
" Yes," said she, " and I will give you an instance of it. 
A short time previous to my setting out for my long 
journey, I sent this dog by railway to a friend living 
in a distant quarter in the south-west of Ireland, and 
then left home for Dublin. Not long after the dog 
appeared at the door of its accustomed house, which was 
now deserted, and some neighbour, with whom the poor 
thing used to be familiar, had it conveyed to me to 
Dublin. After that, I could not but bring the faithful 
creature to what I suppose is destined to be my final 
resting-place." 

It is quite clear that the return of this dog to its old 
dwelling cannot be attributed to a superior sense of smell. 
To what then is it to be attributed ? Surely, to a strong 
sense of the relative position of places. In this case it 
was not the memory of places that served the purpose of 
the animal ; for he had not seen the space that intervened 
between him and his mistress's home. It can, therefore, 
only be attributed to that quality of the sense of locality, 
which, when it is very strong, urges its possessor to 
explore new places. And, possibly, the same faculty 
enabled this dog to see or to feel the direction which the 
train that carried him had taken. 

It would be a mistake to suppose that all dogs are 
endowed with this instinct. A friend of my own had a 
beautiful dog of the Blenheim kind, that was remarkably 
sagacious and affectionate, but he frequently lost his way, 



LOCALITY. 431 

and rewards were several times paid for his restoration. 
This dog was so very deficient in local memory, that his 
owner was obliged to be constantly on the watch, lest he 
should stray away. Dr. Gall mentions cases of this 
nature. 

Dogs differ much both in the actual and relative 
breadth of the scull, where it embraces the anterior lobe 
of the brain. And their sagacity and retrieving faculty 
are always in proportion to the greater or less develop- 
ment of that part of the head. 

I have already, when treating of colour, mentioned the 
name of a man, blind from infancy, who was constantly 
travelling from place to place, and was capable of finding 
his way without a guide. The organ of Locality was 
immensely large in this man. But the most remarkable 
instance, perhaps, on record of an untiring propensity to 
travel was Lieutenant Holman, R.N., who, though quite 
blind, travelled all over Europe and a great part of 
Russia to gratify an inextinguishable love of visiting 
strange places. He even published a long account of 
his travels. 

In the cast of this worthy and benevolent gentleman, 
taken by the late Mr. Deville, the organs of Locality are 
extremely large. The cast of the negro, Abou Becker, 
exhibits a very poor development of the same organs. 
This man, who was engaged by some of our African 
travellers, as a guide,, was sent forward to procure 
information as to the best route for them to pursue. He 
never returned. And it was thought he had betrayed 
them. But I am inclined to think that the fact of his 
not returning was owing more to his incapacity to 
retrace his steps than to premeditated treachery. For, I 
believe he bore a good character previously. Neither is 



432 LOCALITY. 

his head at all indicative of badness of disposition, but 
quite the reverse. Possibly he may have been detained 
or killed by his more savage countrymen. Still, whatever 
the truth may be, respecting the cause of his not return- 
ing, it is a remarkable coincidence, that this hitherto 
trustworthy negro, who lost his way in his own country 
(for such was the general impression on the minds of 
those who had employed him), possessed but a very 
scanty proportion of the organ of the Sense of Locality. 
In the magnificiently developed forehead of Dr. Gall this 
organ is very moderate in size ; and his capacity for 
remembering places, as we have already seen, was weak. 
He was ignorant of geography, says his biographer, and 
whenever he looked upon a map he found something new, 
though he had observed it a thousand times before. In 
the casts of Parry, Franklin, Ross, Lyon, Crozier and 
many others in Deville's collection the organ of Locality 
is protuberant. There is a palpable resemblance between 
all of them in respect to this particular organ, though 
there appears in the general form of the heads a very 
marked dissimilarity. JSTo two heads, indeed, could be 
more unlike, than those of Sir J. Franklin and Sir John 
Ross. Of course, it will be understood that inferior heads 
are excluded from these comparisons. Neither do the 
heads of Parry and Lyon resemble each other in the least, 
nor do they bear any general likeness to those of Ross 
and Franklin. But I must once more attest that their 
otherwise dissimilarly shaped foreheads were all extremely 
salient at the seat of the organ of Locality. 

It should be borne in mind that this organ will some- 
times appear less protuberant in one head than in another, 
though it be of equal size in both. This will happen when 
the organs of Individuality, Eventuality, and Time are 



LOCALITY. 433 

very large in one and moderate in the other. The great 
prominence of this organ is remarkably conspicuous in the 
foest authentic portrait of Captain Cook, notwithstanding 
the fine development of all the other organs of his lofty, 
expansive forehead. This organ is strongly marked in the 
bust of Eajah Sir James Brooke ; and in the portraits of 
our most successful modern navigators, Sir James Ross, 
Maclure, and McClintock. It is large in the casts, taken 
by Deville, of Captain Dumont Durville and Lieutenant 
(now Admiral) Wilkes, the French and American navi- 
gators; and it was large in the head of Captain Weddell, 
who reached a degree of latitude in the South which no 
one before him had attained, and which Durville failed to 
arrive at. 

This part of the forehead is always large in those artists 
who excel in landscape painting. In the portraits of 
many of the old masters who excelled in this line, I have 
found this organ prominent, and I have found it large 
in the mask of Turner. Indeed, it may, without any 
prospect or likelihood of committing a blunder, be assumed, 
for a certainty, that the organ of Locality will be found to 
be a prominent feature in the heads of such eminent men 
as Calcott, Stanfield, Creswell, Linnell, Danby, and others 
-whom I could name, were it not that the enumeration 
would be tedious. But the cast from nature of the famous 
"Vernet ought not to be omitted. In it the organ of 
Locality is strongly marked. Ministers of religion, who 
like to be sent on foreign missions, will be found to have a 
large development at the seat of this organ. This fact is 
abundantly manifested in the portraits of the intrepid 
African traveller, Dr. Livingstone. 

A quick comprehension of the relative position of places 
is an essential ingredient in the intellectual composition of 

H H 



434 LOCALITY. 

an engineer. The successful choice of the best line for a- 
railway will depend much upon the strength of the faculty 
of the sense of the relation of localities ; and, as a sure 
concomitant of this talent, it is a fact, patent to anyone, 
who will direct even slight attention to the evidence, that 
the organ of Locality is large in all eminent engineers. In 
Watt, Eennie, Smeaton, the Stevensons, the Brunels, it 
is very large. 

The active exercise of this faculty is a source of delight 
to the astronomer. To contemplate and comprehend the 
relative position of the planetary systems with success is 
the aim of all his fondest aspirations. Hence it would be- 
natural to expect to find a large development of the organ 
of Locality in the foreheads of Newton and Herschell, of 
Descartes and Laplace, of Gallileo and Tycho Brahe. And 
such, truly, is the case. In the masks from nature of 
Newton and Herschell the organ is very large. It is also 
very large in the scull of Descartes, and in the cast after 
death of Laplace. But in Laplace the organ was not so- 
leading a feature as it was in Newton, or, perhaps, in 
Herschell. It was not so conspicuous in his head as the 
organs of those faculties which constitute a genius for' 
analysing and reducing accumulated materials to method. 

The portrait of James Bernouilli resembled the mask of 
Newton very much in the form of the lower part of the 
forehead; but it was not quite on a par with Newton's in 
the upper part of it. 

This organ is prominent in the foreheads of such writers 
as have shewn great talent in describing beautiful scenery. 
In the busts of Byron, by Thorwaldsen and Bartolini, it 
is well-developed, and certainly his descriptive powers 
were of the highest order. He felt conscious of this 
himself, for he somewhere says, " Description is my 



LOCALITY. 435 

forte." The same faculty was one of the active ingredi- 
ents in the fertile genius of Sir Walter Scott, and we 
find that, in perfect accordance with it, there is a marked 
development of the organ of Locality in the cast of his 
head, which was taken some years before his death. 
Moore's genius, also, was in this respect of a very high 
order, and the organ forms a conspicuous feature in his 
mask, which was taken from nature. 

To a general commanding a large army and conducting 
a campaign in an enemy's country, it is of great advantage 
to possess this faculty in an eminent degree. Otherwise 
he is compelled to rely upon the good offices of a subordi- 
nate, who is gifted with a superior endowment of it. In 
the cast after death of Napoleon the organ is large, but 
it is not remarkably salient, owing to the very fine deve- 
lopment of all the organs situated around it. It is well 
marked in the bust of the Duke of Wellington, by 
JSTollekens. In the most authentic busts of Julius Caesar 
this organ is very conspicuous, and his " Commentaries " 
show how vivid was his perception of places and of their 
relative position. In the fine expressive bust of Sylla it 
is also large, and in those of Trajan and Hadrian. But 
in all these great men its influence was subordinate and 
ancillary to higher motives than the mere love of travel- 
ling. They travelled to effect a purpose, but that purpose 
was not merely to travel. 

It would be hard to form an adequate estimate of the 
blessings which have fallen to the lot of mankind by the 
judicious following of the instinctive promptings of this 
fundamental power. To have invariably resisted its 
instigations would have left nations for ever ignorant of 
the good things to be found in foreign climes, but which 
have been denied to their own, and have left unsur* 

H H 2 



436 LOCALITY. 

mounted a barrier which, but for the innate craving of 
the disposition to visit new and remote places, would for 
ever preclude the occurrence of that interchange of man's 
moral and intellectual attributes, upon which the happiness 
of social life depends — attributes, the value of which are 
enhanced by travelling, from the fact that it affords men 
the opportunity of opening new ways to happiness for 
others less advanced in the social scale than themselves, 
and again, to gather together for their own benefit, the 
advantages which are only to be found in those remote 
regions. 

It is to this faculty, then, that the rapid spread of 
civilization is in a great measure due, though it is incapa- 
ble of forming any notion of what civilization is. But 
for its promptings, where now would commerce with all 
her blessings be ? Where would be the fair prospect of 
new homes for redundant populations? Great is the 
glory due to such men as Columbus, Vasco de Grama 
and Cooke, to Drake and Magellan. 



NUMBER. 



The sense of the Relation of Numbers is undoubtedly an 
elementary faculty of the mind. This is abundantly 
proved by the singularly powerful talent which has been 
often displayed by children, sometimes under six years 
of age, with reference to the computation of numbers. 
And this power has in all these precocious instances made 
its appearance independently of any previous instruction or 
opportunity of knowing from others that such a thing as 
arithmetical calculation existed. They were in almost 
every instance the children of poor parents. What then, 
but an instinctive perception of the relation of numbers 
could have enabled a child, named Noakes, at the age of 
six years, to solve, in a minute or so, most difficult arith- 
metical questions, which were put to him by a mathema- 
tician out of a book of logarithms, which he had brought 
to Deville's gallery for the purpose of providing against 
any mistake. I saw that child, on that occasion, standing 
on a stool, and calculating aloud the most difficult sums 
without making the slightest mistake. His talent for 
multiplication was truly astonishing. Sometimes he would 
run into a corner and return in a few seconds with the 
true solution of a most difficult problem. In order to see 
the effect of interrupting him, Mr. Deville sometimes 
talked to him, so as to make him laugh, but the little 
fellow, without being: in the least disconcerted would 



438 NUMBER. 

resume his calculation exactly where he left off. In all 
other respects this prodigy of arithmetic was a mere 
child. 

The equally extraordinary case of the child, George 
Bidder, has been often recorded ; and Zarah Colburn, the 
American, displayed in his childhood wonderful genius 
for arithmetical calculation. 

But perhaps the most extraordinary instance of arith- 
metical genius appeared in the person of a poor illiterate 
day labourer, by name Jedediah Buxton. His talent, 
in this way, was truly surprising. So tenacious was 
his memory of the relations of numbers that he could, 
without an effort, and after a lapse of years, resume 
calculations that had been interrupted. In every other 
respect he was, it is said, a simple-minded poor man. 
In the remarks on Attention, I have given rather a ludi- 
crous instance of this, in describing the impression made 
upon him by Garrick's fine performance of one of his 
principal characters. 

Some sixty years ago there lived near Tuam, in the 
county of Galway, a poor labouring man of the name 
of Shoanoke. He had never received any intellectual 
instruction. He had no schooling, as the poor people 
used to say. Nor could he speak a word of English. 
And yet his talent for arithmetical calculation was very 
great. He used, as I have been told, a peculiar cypher, 
known only to himself, which he marked with a common 
nail. He was a self-taught land surveyor, and manifested 
singular practical skill in his vocation. For instance, 
it happened on one occasion that a professed surveyor 
pronounced Shoanoke's measurement of some land to 
be erroneous. Shoanoke, feeling perfect confidence in 
his own accuracy, demanded an appeal to the most 



NUMBER. 439 

eminent surveyor in the country. The appeal was made, 
and it resulted in the complete triumph of the self- 
instructed peasant. It is, also, a fact worth mentioning 
that all his measurements were effected by means of hay 
ropes, twisted by himself for the occasion, and marked 
in the respective intervals by bits of cloth. Did not this 
poor man's genius proceed from within? Was it not 
as instinctive as the migratory tendency of birds ? 

Grail was first led to think of the faculty of Number 
on vitnessing at Vienna the extraordinary calculations 
of a boy only nine years old. " When they gave him," 
says Gall, " three numbers, each expressed by ten or twelve 
figures, asking him to add them, then to subtract them, 
two by two, to multiply, and then divide them by num- 
bers containing three figures, he gave one look at the 
numbers, then raised his nose and eyes in the air, and 
mnounced the result of his mental calculation before 
ny auditors had time to make the same calculation with 
heir pens in their hands. He had created the method 
iimself." There was, also, in Vienna, at that time a 
<hild five years old, the son of an advocate. This child 
"vas so " exclusively occupied with numbers and calcula- 
tons it was found impossible to fix his attention on 
aiy thing else, even the sports appropriate to his age." 
Tie father, being troubled at this, brought the child 
t( Gall, who compared it with the first, and he says, 
■*'[ could find no other resemblance between their heads 
thn a remarkable prominence at the external angles of 
th eyes, and immediately at the side. In one as well 
.as the other, the eye was in a degree covered by the 
suerior lid at its external angle." Gall, who says "he 
ha already made great advances in his theory of the 
plvality of organs," then conceived the idea " that the 



440 NUMBER. 

talent for calculation might well be a fundamental faculty,, 
depending on a particular organ." Having subsequently 
found the same part protuberant in every one whose 
chief capacity was manifested in the pursuit of arith- 
metical calculations, he says, " He saw nothing to prevent 
him from considering the faculty of numbers, as a 
jaeculiar faculty, and admitting a peculiar organ for this- 
faculty." 

And when the cases I have adduced, shall have been fairly, 
and without prejudice, considered, I see no reasor to 
doubt that Gall's inference will be universally acquiesced in. 

The organ of Number is situated outside each of the 
external angles of the eyebrows ; and, when very larg«, the 
brow, at its outward extremity, sometimes has a tendency, 
as it were, to overlap, in an unusual degree, the angles of 
eye, at the same time it spreads outwards and upwards 
with remarkable saliency, so as to resemble, in some cases, 
the segment of a filbert. Such was the case in the 
two casts of little JSToakes, taken by Mr. Deville, at ar 
interval of two years. The first was taken when he was 
but six years old. I observed a similar conformation o' 
the same part in the mask of the Vienna boy, mentioned ty 
Gall. In the last of several casts of Mr. George Bidde* 
taken by the same able practical phrenologist and conscier- 
tious, indefatigable collector of facts to prove the undevif- 
ting soundness of Gall's doctrine, as to the connexki 
between the elementary faculties of the mind and particular 
organs of the brain, the form of the external angle of tie 
brow is somewhat different. There is not the same appe£- 
ance of heaviness ; but the fullness outside of the anjle 
towards the temple is very great, just at the part whfeh 
appears rather hollow in most persons. In this peculiaijty 
of conformation, Bidder's cast strongly resembles tkaljof 



NUMBER. 441 

Zarah Colburn. This diversity of form is the result of the 
greater or less development of the organs which occupy 
the brow, as well as those of Music and Constructivenesss, 
winch lie just above that of Number. In a fine proof 
impression of the inezzotinto print of Jedediah Buxton, 
now lying before me, the development of this part is much 
greater than in any of those I have mentioned. And this 
great fulness extends equally upwards, downwards, and 
outwards. No one can help being astonished at the 
enormous size of the organ in Buxton, when this engraving 
is compared, as I have just now done, with the print of 
Cowper the poet, by Bartolozzi, after Lawrence, and that 
of the poet Akenside, engraved by Fisher, from a picture 
by Pond. Now, it is not to be supposed that these eminent 
poets were wanting in a fair perception of the relation of 
arithmetical numbers, but yet I am not aware that they 
were ever remarkable for arithmetical talent; notwith- 
standing their superiority in all other respects to this 
surprising calculator. Again, compare the fine engrav- 
ing of Descartes, by the celebrated Edelinck, with that of 
Thompson, the poet of " The Seasons," by Basire, after a 
picture by J. Paton, and see the vast disparity in the 
development of the part in question. Or contrast the 
casts from nature of Napoleon and Gall. In that of the 
former the organ of Number is very large, in that of the 
latter it is small. And, in exact accordance with this state 
of things, Napoleon was a great arithmetician and was 
supposed to hold the fifth place as geometrician at the 
Academy of Sciences, when Laplace and other great men 
were flourishing, although he could give but little of his 
attention to such subjects. But, in him it was somewhat 
of an instinct. On the contrary, every kind of numerical 
calculation fatigued Gall, as his biographer relates ; and 



442 NUMBER. 

he says, moreover, "we believe we never saw him go 
through a process in simple multiplication or division that 
was at all complicated. He knew nothing of geometry, 
nor the problems of mathematics." Grail was also remark- 
able for a very moderate endowment of the organs of 
Form, Size, Locality, and Order, all of which are essential 
elements of genius for geometry. 

The celebrated George Combe, who has done such great 
things for the spreading of Phrenology through nations, 
had but little capacity for arithmetic. A friend of his own 
told me that it was amusing to see how he laboured to tot 
up his simple accounts, after a method of his own. I 
believe he did not clearly understand the ordinary rules of 
arithmetic. 

Combe's singular inaptitude to comprehend the simplest 
relations of numbers, without intense mental struggles, 
is readily accounted for by the inadequate development 
of the organ of numerical calculation in his head. In the 
cast from nature it is very small. How much the de- 
velopment of this organ in the cast from nature of Airy, 
the astronomer royal, taken by Deville, differs from that 
of George Combe. In Airy's head the organ is very 
large. It is very large in the mask from nature of Sir 
Isaac Newton, in the cast from the head of Laplace, and 
in that of the scull of Descartes. Li a great many other 
distinguished characters I could follow up the like con- 
trasts. But some may, perhaps, consider that enough 
has already been adduced. Nevertheless, it would not 
be well to neglect mentioning the portrait of John 
Bartlett, engraved in mezzotinto, by James Watson. 
Appended to the engraving is the following account of 
him. " Originally a shepherd, in which station he, by 
books and observation, acquired such a knowledge in 






NUMBER. 443 

computation and the heavenly bodies, as induced the late 
George Earl of Macclesfield to appoint him assistant 
observer in his observatory at Sherburn Castle. He was 
born at Stoke Tannage in Oxfordshire, August 22, 1721, 
■O.S." The development of the organ of the relation of 
lumbers is very large in this head. 

I will conclude with this averment that no contra- 
dictory instance has ever yet been brought forward by 
any of the numerous bitter opponents of Phrenology tend- 
ing in the smallest degree to weaken the evidence which 
shews that great arithmetical genius is always accom- 
panied by unusual fulness of the part of the head which 
lies outside the external angle of the eyebrow, and that 
marked weakness of that faculty is surely indicated by a 
scanty development of the same part. 



OEDEE 



The sense of Order has been dealt in different measures 
to different individuals. Some persons take the greatest 
pains to preserve their houses and every article belonging 
to them, whether needful or not, in a neat and orderly 
condition, and they feel great discomfort, and are often 
betrayed into anger at seeing things out of their proper 
position. Others, on the contrary, allow their furniture 
and wardrobes to fall into disorder, and do not feel at all 
disturbed at seeing everything in confusion around them. 
There are some, again, who are pleased with order and 
neatness, but who will not put themselves out of the way 
to keep things in that state. 

That mental superiority is not the cause of excellence 
in this respect is proved by the fact that some idiots have 
been known to manifest a strong propensity for keeping 
things in order, while men of great mental acquirements 
and original genius, have evinced a marked inaptitude 
for doing the like. Doctor Gall himself is an example 
of singular carelessness in keeping his things in order. 
Hear what his biographer, Dr. Fossati, says as to this 
point. " If it be true, as we believe it is, that there is an 
organ of Order, Gall was absolutely destitute of it. The 
arrangement of his house was a curiosity. He said it 
was order to him. Let one imagine to himself, huddled 
together in his bureau drawers, for instance, old journals, 



OEDER. 445 

quittances, advertisements, letters from distinguished 
men, pamphlets, nuts, pieces of gold, silver, and copper, 
and packets of seeds. We have seen him take up a 
bundle of these papers and shake out from them the 
money he happened to need. In this manner he kept 
his records and his desk." 

These cases prove, beyond a doubt, that love of order 
does not at all depend upon the general ability of an 
individual. And since it is sometimes found in idiots, to 
be the only intellectual faculty displayed ; and seeing that 
no power of the mind can shew itself without having its 
organ in the brain, it becomes of importance to learn 
where this organ is to be found. 

Now, it is rational to suppose that the mental attribute, 
which prompts us to put and to keep things in order, 
should have its organ lying amidst or near those which 
give a knowledge of things, their qualities and numbers. 
And as there was only one convolution in the forehead 
which was not the well attested seat of some faculty, 
Spurzheim was led to conjecture that that must be the 
organ of Order ; for experience and reasoning had con- 
vinced him that there certainly does exist a distinct 
faculty for taking cognizance of that attribute. 

This convolution lies between those of Colour and 
Number ; and, when large, it gives a prominence to the 
external angle of the eyebrow. 

Subsequent assiduous and scrupulous investigators have 
fully established the truth of Spurzheim's discovery. And 
there can hardly be met with a more marked example of 
the smallness of the organ of Order than may be seen in 
the cast of the head of Grail ; who, as his biographer says, 
was very deficient in the faculty. Contrast this cast with 
the bust of the duke of Wellington, by Nollekens, and 



446 ORDER. 

the great disparity, in regard to the size of this particular 
part of the brow, cannot fail to arrest attention ; for the 
organ was extremely large in the duke, and his love of 
order was intense. These two striking cases serve as 
strong evidence in proof of Spurzheim's opinion. Indeed, 
wide experience justifies phrenologists in their firm con- 
viction that the existence and seat of the organ of Order 
are perfectly established facts. 

The sphere of activity of this faculty appears to have 
been confined by phrenologists to its bearing upon physi- 
cal objects. But it is certainly an undue curtailment of 
its power to confine it within such limits, for there is 
abundant evidence to shew that it is a very valuable 
ingredient of the composition of faculties, which enable 
a man to arrange his thoughts rapidly, and to communi- 
cate them with facility. It is not that this happy talent 
is absolutely dependent upon the presence of a well 
developed organ of Order. This is sufficiently manifested 
in the case of Gall, whose writings attest his capacity in 
that way. Still it may with truth be averred that, if Gall 
had possessed a better development of Order, his facility of 
arranging his ideas would have been enhanced and his 
powers of spontaneous oratory augmented. 

In all those great writers, who have had the power of 
rapidly concentrating and arranging their thoughts, and 
of harmoniously expressing them, the development of 
Order is considerable. In Bolingbroke and his friend 
Chesterfield the external angle of the forehead is very 
salient. In the portraits and busts of Pope this part of 
the brow is remarkable for the beautiful blending of Order 
with the organ of Time and other contiguous organs. 
And can there be named, in the whole range of literature, 
any one who has displaved more ability in the harmonious 






OEDEE. 447 

arrangement of his words and the pointed concentration 
of his thoughts. A somewhat similar conformation of the 
same part is strikingly observable in Houdon's fine bust 
and statue of Voltaire. In the busts of Byron, by 
Thorwaldsen and Bartolini (the only authentic ones), the 
development of the part in question is strongly marked, 
and Scott, so fertile in imagination and rapid in compo- 
sition, has left in the cast of his head from nature a 
striking instance of the prominence of the region of 
Order. In Crabbe, Coleridge, Southey, and Wordsworth 
the same sort of prominence appears over the external 
angle of the eye. 

This organ is remarkably developed in the plaster cast 
of Dr. Johnson, taken after his death by the desire of 
Sir Joshua Reynolds. And, to use the words of Chester- 
field, when he was describing the splendid eloquence of 
his friend Bolingbroke, ....■" even his most familiar 
conversation, if taken down in writing, would have borne 
the press without the least correction either as to the 
method or style." 

But it is not to be supposed that a large organ of Order 
is essentially necessary to the harmonious arrangement of 
our thoughts. The case of Gall himself, as we have seen, 
is a proof of this, and a corroborative instance is to be 
found in a far greater master of composition and oratory 
than either Grail or Johnson — Edmund Burke, who rests 
without a superior, either ancient or modern, in the 
splendom* of his oratory and the statesmanlike wisdom 
and eloquence of his political writings. In the cast of 
the face of this great writer, which was taken at a rather 
early period of his life by his protege Hickie, the sculptor, 
the organ of Order is not a salient feature. Not that it 
is in itself at all defective, but because the beautiful and 



448 ORDER. 

harmonious arrangement of all the other organs of his 
expansive forehead, if it does not cause an overshadowing 
of that organ, renders it much less conspicuously developed 
than it appeared to be in his friend Johnson. Burke's 
immense organ of Ideality tended to curtail the influence 
of Order, and this bias of the mind was augmented by 
an imagination naturally fertile in the extreme, and richly 
cultivated with the seeds of knowledge in almost all their 
varieties. For some good judge remarked that there 
was nothing which Burke did not seem to be acquainted 
with. It is to these splendid endowments, not sufficiently 
restrained by a comparatively moderate sized organ of 
Order, that what has been called Burke's deficiency in 
logical precision, if such were really the case, is to be 
attributed. It was this that caused Erskine to say that 
Burke was " too episodical," and which caused Curran 
to pass that unwise, undiscriminating censure upon his 
great countryman and fellow patriot, namely " That his 
mind was filled with gauds and shows and badly-assorted 
ornaments." Such a criticism as this could not have 
been made by a man of Curran's superior intellectual 
powers, unless there was something in Burke's style of 
speaking and writing which to Curran's mind betrayed 
the absence of the quality of Order. Very different from 
this was Grattan's estimate of Burke, for on being asked 
one day his opinion of Burke by some person who was 
lauding the super-eminent wit of Curran, he said, " The 
wit of Curran is certainly exceedingly brilliant, but 
Burke too has wit, and is also wise." On another 
occasion Orattan says, " Mr. Burke, the prodigy of 
nature and acquisition ! He read everything, he saw 
everything, he foresaw everything. His knowledge of 
history amounted to a power of foretelling." This last 






ORDER. 449 

passage may be deemed irrelevant to the subject under 
•discussion, but it is introduced as a potent antidote against 
the injudicious and inconsiderate criticism of Curran. Yet 
this organ, though adequately developed, was not so large 
in Burke as it was in Johnson, and perhaps the capti- 
vating variety of Burke's style may be in a measure 
attributed to this peculiarity. 

I feel convinced that if we take two statesmen, whose 
moral and intellectual endowments are as near as can be 
on a par, while the organ of Order is small in one and 
large in the other, we shall find that the latter will be 
a more ready debater than the former. The organ is very 
large in the mask from nature, after death, of William 
Pitt, so remarkable for the admirable order displayed in 
ihe arrangement of words and sentences, even in his 
unpremeditated harangues. In the portrait of Charles 
Townsencl, by Reynolds, the organ of Order is large. 
And this is what was said of him by his cotemporary 
Burke, " If," says Burke, " he had not so great a stock 
as some have had, who flourished formerly, of knowledge 
long treasured up, he knew better, by far, than any man 
I ever was acquainted with, how to bring together within 
a short time all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, 
and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He 
stated his matter skilfully and powerfully. He par- 
ticularly excelled in a most luminous explanation and 
display of his subject. His style of argument was neither 
trite nor vulgar, nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the 
House just between wind and water." 

It will be understood, of course, that the plan of his 
speeches was devised by the reflective faculties — Com- 
parison and Causality — acting upon the faculties that 
acquire knowledge. To Order belongs, partly, the power 

i i 



450 ORDER. 

of keeping, without effort, the intellectual faculties from 
diverging from the point at issue, and of helping to 
concentrate and arrange them. I use the word helping, 
because long experience has taught me to feel convinced 
that the sense of time, as it flows on, is, as to this end, 
a powerful auxiliary to order. This will, it is hoped, be 
satisfactorily shewn when the separate existence of the 
organ which enables us to appreciate time, and renders 
us instinctively sensible of its progress, independent of 
any notion of incidents which mark epochs, comes to be 
considered. 

The organ of Order is certainly a most important one,, 
and it would, as has been already hinted, be a mistake 
to suppose that its action is restricted within the bounds 
of physical objects. It is, for instance, a powerful 
auxiliary to the faculty of Number. In mental arith- 
metical calculation the poAver of recollecting the proper 
arrangement of the figures must be indispensable. And 
it is a fact that the organ of Order is well developed in 
great mental calculators. It is so in the casts of those 
precocious children, Zarah Colburn, Bidder, Noakes, and 
several others. Music, too, finds a good handmaid in 
order. But it is not so useful or necessary in the com- 
position of simple melody as in the production of compli- 
cated harmonies. Extensive experience shews that the 
great masters of harmonious combinations of melody were 
endowed with an ample development of the organ of 
Order. In the mask of Weber, so conspicuous for the 
great fulness of the organ of Tune, Order is a prominent 
feature. In the portraits of the greatest musicians, in 
Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, it is large. And 
if Order is a source of help in the composition of music, 
and in arithmetical computation, why should it not be 






ORDEK. 451 

deemed an important auxiliary in the arrangement of 
events, as they happen in the order of time, and of words 
as they are used in giving expression to those events. 

It is not strange that the function of Order should 
he, at first, confined to physical things, as through them 
its peculiar quality was rendered more readily apparent. 

In early childhood much attention shoidd be paid to 
the cultivation of the faculty of Order, for it is also 
an essential ingredient in the mental constitution of an 
industrious person. It has a share, too, in developing 
that valuable attribute, punctuality, which is so indispen- 
sable to success in any occupation. 

This organ is larger in the masks from nature of Pitt 
and Fox than in that of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 
It is very salient in the casts of Napoleon and Oliver 
Cromwell, and it is still more characteristic of Wellington. 

There can be no doubt that the existence and position 
of the organ of Order is thoroughly established (see 
Plate 7). 



I 12 



EVENTUALITY-SENSE OE FACTS. 



When treating of the organ of Individuality it was found 
necessary to encroach upon the domain of Eventuality, 
since Gall was of opinion that the part of the forehead 
occupied by them consisted of one organ only, to which he 
attributed modes of action which were subsequently con- 
sidered by Spurzheim to require the agency of two. 
Indeed, it is not easy to draw a clear line of distinction 
between their functions, as both are endowed with the 
power of perceiving things in their individualities. But 
yet it seems quite certain that there inheres in the organ 
of Eventuality a range of power, of which no conception 
can be formed by Individuality. 

Individuality perceives some substantial thing in its 
unity, but has no power to perceive its accidents of form, 
size, or colour. Eventuality recalls to mind the fact that 
something has been seen, or felt, or heard somewhere ; but 
it is not always capable of distinctly remembering what that 
thing is, though it is ardently desirous of doing so. For 
instance, a visit to a theatre recurs to the mind, and there 
arises a consciousness that on that occasion much pleasure 
was felt on hearing a song sweetly sung. But, for awhile, 
the memory fails to recall either the song or the singer, 
or even the theatre. In this case, Eventuality remembers 
the naked fact that a sweet song had been heard somewhere. 
But, as it is not within the sphere of its capacity to recol- 



EVENTUALITY. 453 

lect without assistance the specialities of that fact, it 
becomes anxious and importunate, like one who yearns to 
recover some cherished thing that has been lost. 

Its state of excitement is after a while shared in by those 
organs in its vicinity, which alone are capable of recalling 
these specialities, and through their co-operation a thorough 
rememberance of all the incidents connected with the fact 
is effected. But, unlike Individuality, this organ is not 
content to rest satisfied with a knowledge of things 
external. As the special appreciation of phenomena it 
embraces the workings of the reflective organs, Causality 
aucl Comparison. And as the most affecting and emotional 
of phenomena consist of the moral and religious sentiments 
and animal propensities, Eventuality must become conscious 
of their presence also. Hence, it should be looked upon as 
a central repertory of knowledge. And its innate charac- 
teristic is the love of knowledge. To this end it is, to use 
an expression of Burke's, " omnivorous." But it is not 
capable of selecting its food, except through the interven- 
tion of auxiliaries, which according to the measure of their 
power to discern, might contribute what was wholesome or 
unprofitable, or, may be, erroneous. In such an emer- 
gency to discriminate is beyond its power. For, example, 
if a person be so incapable of distinguishing one colour 
from another, that to him blue appears to be red, and red 
to be blue, can Eventuality see that this is a false judg- 
ment ? No. For it cannot, by itself, gain a notion of the 
imperfection of the other organs. It can learn this only 
through the agency of individuals, who are endowed in 
this case, for instance, with a refined perception of colour 
in all its varieties and combinations. It then believes the 
fact on extraneous evidence ; yet it cannot appreciate or 
realize it. But as Eventuality is the organ of the love of 



454 EVENTUALITY. 

knowledge and the source of curiosity in the general 
acceptation of the term, it will naturally desire to obtain a 
true notion of the cause of its misjudgment. With the 
aid of Causality, Comparison, and the perceptive organs of 
Size, Form, and Locality, it becomes aware of the cause, 
by having pointed out to it the fact that the organ of 
Colour is in that particular instance so poorly developed 
that it is incapable of performing its natural functions 
thoroughly. 

Seeing then that this organ of Eventuality is the only 
one that can become sensible of the existence and of the 
special functions of all the other organs, whether they 
relate to external things or to inward thoughts and feel- 
ings, it follows, in the course of reason, that it must 
embrace within its sphere of action the notion of the 
entity Self. And for the same reason it seems right to 
assume that it is also the true seat of Consciousness, that 
mysterious abode so long sought for in vain by the most 
able students of metaphysical science. 

If this is the case, Eventuality is the only faculty that 
is capable of comprehending, not only the existence of the 
several faculties, but also their modes of action, both 
individually and collectively. And as action implies 
motion and change, it must be desirous of noticing the 
changeful and changing condition of things. The truth 
of this a priori inference is confirmed by the fact that 
men, who evince a decided predilection for political 
pursuits, independently of ambitious motives, are possessed 
of a superior development of this organ. It is a marked 
feature of the forehead of a vigilant and attentive ad- 
ministrator of affairs when they are at all numerous and 
diversified. 

It is from men of this class that some of the most 



EVENTUALITY. 455 

interesting and remarkable positive evidences are found 
of the local position of the organ of Eventuality. And 
the numerous negative proofs of its situation are derived 
from the heads of men of genius, who felt disinclined to 
meddle in public affairs ; or of men who, though 
unendowed with an adequate development of this organ, 
have through ambitious or other motives been led by a 
concurrence of circumstances into the arena of political 
life ; but whose failure as leading and actively efficient 
statesmen was matter of notoriety. 

Few men of any age have held so famous a place in 
the world's history as Pompey the Great and his mighty 
antagonist Julius Cassar. They were both ambitious, 
both heroically brave, and both possessed of superior 
talents. But the essentially active and practical genius 
of Cassar was vastly superior in promptitude and efficiency 
to that of his rival. This superiority was owing, in a 
great measure, to the relative incapacity of Pompey to 
grasp and appreciate events as they were passing around 
him. The vast influence which Cassar was constantly 
gaining over the affections of the people, and the sure 
foundation he was thus laying for his future elevation 
and success, if they did not escape the notice of Pompey, 
they certainly did not sufficiently arouse his vigilance. 
For, while he thought that by merely stamping his foot 
on the ground armed men would arise on all sides 
for the defence of the Republic, Cassar had crossed the 
Rubicon. And, while he was waiting for events, Cassar 
was anticipating them. Pompey loved to rest upon his 
oars when he found that fortune's bark had wafted him to 
a position of the highest earthly glory. Caesar's great 
achievements only stimulated him to fresh encounters. 
u Nil actum reputans si quid superessel agendum," is. the 



456 EVENTUALITY. 

characteristic designation applied to him by the poet 
Lucan. He thought nothing was done while anything 
remained to be done. 

Now, it was not personal courage that was wanting in 
Pompey. He was endowed with as much of that quality 
as any man, and his corporeal energy was great. But he 
was not gifted with a sufficiency of intellectual vigilance 
and fertility of genius in devising resources to meet and 
counteract effectually the progress of his great opponent, 
and he seemed incapable of making such vigorous mental 
efforts as were imperatively demanded to stem the tide of 
dissolution which had already almost swamped the Ee- 
public. 

The immediate source of this indolence is traceable to 
the moderate development of Individuality and Eventu- 
ality in a forehead which, in other respects, was finely 
developed, while the surprising and incessant activity of 
Caesar's intellect is mainly due to the striking protuber- 
ance of the same organs, supported as they were in him 
by a noble endowment of all those intellectual organs 
which foster assiduousness. 

This description of Pompey's forehead is founded on a 
very fine authentic bust of him, formerly in the phreno- 
logical collection of the late Mr. Deville. That of Caesar 
rests for its authority on medals, and what are deemed 
to be authentic busts of him ; one of the best of which was 
also in that collection. This head was brought from Eome 
by the father of the late Lord Northwick. 

The superior presence of mind of Caesar was the result, 
in a great measure, of the uncommon strength and activity 
of these two organs, for to them is due his rapidity in 
perceiving every object and circumstance which, from the 
suggestions of his powerful organs of Comparison and 



EVENTUALITY. 457 

Causality, lie saw were calculated to raise serious obstacles 
to the fulfilment of his purpose. And they were influen- 
tial ingredients in the compound of faculties which enabled 
him to seize the most effectual means of counteracting 
unexpected occurrences with greater promptitude than 
almost any other individual in history. And the mar- 
vellous power of dictating to four amanuenses, or even 
more, at the same time, was dependent in a great degree,, 
though not entirely, upon the superior force of these 
organs. 

Eventuality and Individuality are very salient in the 
high and symmetrical forehead of Sylla the dictator. And 
his success as a politician, both in a civil and military 
capacity, entitled him to take to himself the surname of 
Felix, or the Fortunate. 

Had Pompey, great as he was in some respects, been 
aware of the influence of these organs upon the conduct 
of men, he would not have fallen into the habit of saying, 
" Sylla potuit ego non potero ? " " Wherein," to use the 
words of Bacon, "he was much abused; the nature and 
proceedings of himself and his example being the un- 
likeliest in the world, the one being fierce, violent, and 
pressing the fact ; the other solemn and full of majesty and 
circumstance, and therefore the less effectual." 

Notwithstanding the fine development of Caius Marius's 
forehead it is far below Sylla' s in the development of 
Eventuality, and Marius, though a subtle politician, was 
not an able one. 

Again, let the bust of Marcus Brutus be compared 
with that of Cato the Censor, and the superiority of 
the latter in regard to the development of these organs 
will be instantly apparent. In strict accordance with 
these cerebral characteristics we find that Brutus wa& 



458 EVENTUALITY. 

a speculative philosopher of virtuous aspirations, but 
an unsuccessful politician and administrator. Cato's 
views and conduct, on the contrary, were eminently 
practical. His administrative talents were of the highest 
order. This was proved in the field at the head of the 
army, in the senate as an orator and a political actor, 
as a cultivator of the soil, and a rearer of cattle in the 
country, and in the closet as a historian of great ability. 
Livy says that Cato had a versatile genius. Now, this 
versatility was owing to the great size of the organs of 
Individuality and Eventuality. It must be understood, 
of course, that the power of giving effect to his versatile 
intellectual tendencies depended upon the co-operation 
of other organs. And amongst them that of Language 
formed a conspicuous feature. 

Marius, who succeeded him as the bitter enemy of 
the patricians, was not possessed of a versatile genius ; 
and he was totally regardless of literature. 

To account for his inferiority to Cato in these respects, 
it is only necessary to compare the fine antique heads 
of them, the forms of which leave no room for a phreno- 
logist to entertain a doubt of their authenticity. For 
instance, in the powerful forehead of Marius the organ 
of Language is small ; and the other two organs are 
not characteristic. 

The remarkable saliency of these two organs in the 
busts of the Emperor Adrian is conspicuous ; and his 
most striking mental characteristics exactly coincide with 
the great size of this portion of the forehead. For Adrian 
was, as Bacon says, " The most curious man that lived, 
and the most universal inquirer, inasmuch as it was 
noted for an error of his mind, that he desired to com- 
prehend all things, and not to reserve himself for the 



EVENTUALITY. 459 

worthiest things." So great was the curiosity and 
unquenchable thirst for knowledge of Adrian. 

It will have been seen that these organs are indis- 
pensable elements in the cerebral constitution of a suc- 
cessful administrator of the affairs of a people. Here 
is what Bacon says of Adrian upon that head. " And 
for his government civil, although he did not attain to 
that of Trajan's in the glory of arms or perfection of 
justice, yet in deserving of the weal of the subject he did 
exceed him." Again he says, " But Adrian spent his 
whole reign, which was peaceable, in a perambulation 
and survey of the Roman empire, giving orders and 
making assignations wdiere he went for re-edifying of 
cities and towns, and forts decayed, and for cutting of 
rivers and streams, and for making bridges and passages, 
and for policying of cities and commonalties with new 
ordinances and constitutions, and granting new franchises 
and incorporations, so that his whole time was a very 
restoration of all the lapses and decays of former times." 

As a marked contrast to the head of Adrian, it may be 
interesting to cite that of the Emperor Tiberius, in which 
these organs are ill-developed and flat. Now, this cruel 
man is a notorious instance of intellectual indolence with 
respect to the care and the directing of the affairs of State. 
These he let fall entirely into the unworthy hands of 
his favourite Sejanus. In the head of the enlightened 
and beneficent Maecenas, the organs of Eventuality and 
Individuality, are very protuberant, while they are com- 
paratively moderate in the head of Augustus. And 
hence it may be inferred that that subtle ruler, who 
prided himself upon having acted his part so successfully 
in the drama of life, was indebted for much of that success 
to the political vigilance of his accomplished and wise 



460 EVENTUALITY. 

minister, by whose instinctive clemency he was led to 
curb those unmerciful tendencies of his character which,. 
by being given way to, were sure to strip him of the 
affections of the Roman people. 

Before we take leave of the ancients it will be instruc- 
tive to compare the head of Antoninus Pius with those 
of Adrian and Tiberius. Unlike the latter and like the 
former the bust of that good emperor and most virtuous 
of men shews a fine development of Eventuality and 
Individuality. But he was endowed with a much larger 
organ of Causality than Adrian's bust displays. Hence 
it is to be inferred, according to the natural laws dis- 
closed by the Science of Phrenology, that Antoninus 
possessed a capacity for perceiving and remembering in 
their minute details the changeful and changing condition 
of public affairs, and was gifted Avith a strong thirst for 
knowledge, as well as Adrian, but that he would be 
disinclined to give way to that restless pursuit of it, 
which marked the conduct of his adoptive father. This 
was owing partly to his paramount organ of Causality 
and partly to the predominant development of the organs 
of the moral and religious sentiments, as well as to the 
subordinate state of those of Self-esteem and Love of 
Approbation. Now, these two last-named organs were 
salient features in the generally well-organized head of 
Adrian, and personal ambition and an ardent love of dis- 
play were leading attributes of his disposition — attributes 
which were not in the least degree germane to the pure 
and unselfish character of Antoninus. 

The influence of Causality upon the intellectual 
character of this good man is well shewn in Lord Bacon's 
description of him. " Antoninus Pius," says he, " who 
succeeded him (Adrian) was a prince excellently learned, 



EVENTUALITY. 461 

and had the patient and subtle wit of a schoolman ; 
insomuch as in common speech, which leaves no virtue 
untaxed, he was called ' cymini sector,'' a carver, or a 
divider of cummin seed, which is one of the least seeds ; 
such a patience he had and settled spirit to enter into 
the least and most exact difference of causes, a fruit no 
doubt of the exceeding tranquillity and serenity of his 
mind ; which being no ways charged or encumbered, 
either with fears, remorses, or scruples, but having been 
noted for a man of the purest goodness, without all fiction 
•or affectation, that had reigned or lived, made his mind 
continually present and entire. He likewise approached a 
degree nearer unto Christianity, and became, as Agrippa 
said to St. Paul, half a Christian ; holding their religion 
and law in good opinion, and not only ceasing persecution, 
but giving way to the advancement of Christians." 

It will not, it is hoped, be deemed irrelevant to the 
immediate subject of discussion to have quoted this 
passage from the " Advancement of Learning," when it is 
considered that a finer example of the firm and truthful 
basis upon which the science of Phrenology rests cannot 
be met with than the bust of this good emperor, now in 
the British Museum, presents. He was a minute ob- 
server through fine organs of Individuality and Eventu- 
ality. His subtle faculty of defining the least and most 
exact differences of causes arose out of a powerful and 
characteristic Causality, supported by an equally effective 
Comparison, acting upon materials presented to it by 
the other two. These also ministered to his success in 
the transacting of public affairs. And they were all 
rendered more effective by an exceedingly fine develop- 
ment of the organs of Time and Order, which insured the 
habit of punctuality and industry. 



462 EVENTUALITY. 

But it would be wrong to suppose that his patient and 
settled spirit to enter into the least and most exact 
differences of causes was simply the fruit of his tran- 
quillity of mind, as Bacon has supposed. No doubt his 
serenity of temper favoured the frequent prosecution of 
such mental exercises, and his rare moral purity ensured 
the probability of his arriving at just conclusions. Indeed, 
it is not always the man of brightest intellectual faculties 
that is the wisest man. But to his peculiar intellectual 
characteristics alone is to be attributed his proneness to 
enter into abstruse disquisitions, as well as his capacity for 
conducting them. 

When Sully wrote " that practical details of business 
were to Henry the Fourth merely an amusement, and 
that his mind adapted itself with the same ease to things 
small or great," he had no clue to guide him to the source 
from whence that talent arose. But to the studious dis- 
ciple of Gall that source is no longer a mystery. For 
the region of the forehead, which comprises the organs of 
Individuality and Eventuality, is remarkably salient in 
the mask of that great and generous king, which was 
taken from his face after death. A like prominence of 
these organs characterises the broad forehead of Frederick 
the Great of Prussia. And his extraordinary attention 
to the minute details of events was a marked feature of 
his great administrative talents. The fine whole length 
mezzotint print of him, published at Berlin in 1786, by 
Cunningham, the painter of the portrait, is a striking 
illustration of that fact. 

Notwithstanding the genius of Voltaire he was not led, 
like his royal and capricious friend, by an inward monitor 
to devote his attention to the practical administration of 
political affairs, though his writings exercised a powerful 



EVENTUALITY. 463 

influence in forming the political opinions of his co- 
temporaries. How opposite was his mode of acting in 
this respect to his great countryman, Richelieu, whose 
vast administrative genius was so highly prized by Peter 
the Great, that Voltaire says this extraordinary ruler was 
" quite in rapture on visiting the tomb of Cardinal 
Richelieu." And he continues, " The beauty of that 
masterpiece of sculpture scarcely attracted his eye ; his 
admiration was engrossed by the image of a minister, who 
had made himself famous throughout Europe by the com- 
motions he had raised, and who had restored to France 
that glory which it had lost after the death of Henry 
the Fourth. When he embraced the statue of that great 
man, he exclaimed, " Thou greatest of men, I would give 
thee one-half of my dominions to learn of thee to govern 
the other half." 

Now, this striking intellectual disparity, in respect to 
these two extraordinary men, is easily accounted for by 
those who are guided by the fundamental laws of Phreno- 
logy, and it cannot be deemed presumption to say that the 
profoundest metaphysics would fail to discover the efficient 
cause of such a dissimilarity of talents by means of the 
brightest light which their system of mental philosophy is 
capable of spreading along the intricate path they are fain 
to pursue. The phrenological explanation, on the contrary, 
is demonstrable. It is as "palpable to feeling as to sight." 
And it consists in this, — that the fine forehead of Richelieu 
was characterized, in an eminent degree, by the largeness 
of the organs of Eventuality and Individuality ; while 
these are not salient features of the harmoniously balanced 
intellectual organs of Voltaire. Nanteuil's beautiful 
engraving of the one, and Houdon's expressive bust of the 
other, are admirable illustrations of these facts. 



464 EVENTUALITY. 

It is interesting to observe that in the forehead of 
Richelieu the organs of the reflective faculties, though 
broad and well marked, were yet, as to their development, 
rather subordinate to those of the perceptions. Hence he 
would be prompted even by his intellectual instincts to 
pursue a life of action rather than one of contemplation. 
But, when his resoluteness, his fearless intrepidity, and 
his towering ambition (qualities of which his portraits are 
strikingly symbolical) are taken into account, it would be 
strange indeed if such were not the case. The multiplicity 
of his projects was so extraordinary that, notwithstanding 
their feasibility, as was afterwards proved by Mazarin, he did 
not live long enough to carry them, all through the formid- 
able obstructions by which they were encompassed. His 
prodigious capacity for grasping in detail the circumstances 
necessary to the carrying of his State policy to a successful 
issue had its source in his powerfully developed organs of 
Individuality and Eventuality. And to the superior 
development of the organs of Time and Order is to be 
attributed his capacity for arranging those circumstances 
in the form best calculated to suit his purpose. To them 
was due, also, in a great measure, his indefatigable 
industry. Like Voltaire he was endowed with a very 
large organ of Language ; and like him he shewed, at a 
very early age, both taste and talent for literature. And 
to the last, though beset by turmoil and strife, he was the 
encourager and friend of men of letters. 

But vast capacity for the conducting of public affairs 
which was in his case stimulated by " vaulting ambition " 
and love of power, caused him to forsake the tranquillity 
of the cloister and the closet for the turbulence of the 
political arena. 

In Voltaire's bust, on the contrary, the organs of 



EVENTUALITY. 465 

Individuality and Eventuality are not relatively prominent, 
wlnle that of Language is dominant. The reflective organs 
also are strikingly characteristic. And those of Ideality and 
Wit, or the sense of the ludicrous, are conspicuous features. 

It is to be inferred from these cerebral indications that 
this extraordinary genius, notwithstanding the restless 
activity of his mind and his ambition, was a man of con- 
templation rather than of action, and that he was more 
fitted to criticise the acts of others or to suggest them 
than to take an active part himself in the conduct of 
public affairs. Such a forehead is indicative of a strong 
bias towards intellectual scepticism and of proneness to form 
conclusions that are somewhat too general in their bearing. 
This is owing to an indisposition to engage in the strict 
and scrupulous investigation of the dry details of facts 
and things. 

In the bust of Buffon, by Houdon, these two organs are 
very large and strikingly characteristic, and the genius 
evinced by him in the investigation and eloquent descrip- 
tion of objects of natural history in their minutest details 
is in that respect of the highest class. The frontal deve- 
lopment of Buffon led him instinctively to the study of 
physics, as these are connected with the animal kingdom. 
Ethics were by the same rule more germane to the com- 
prehensive and versatile genius of Voltaire. But his 
ethical views, both in regard to politics and theology, 
were perverted by certain moral peculiarities of character, 
and of the existence of these his bust affords striking 
indications. One of these is insincerity. And this spirit 
of insincerity, engendered by dominant Secretiveness and 
moderate Conscientiousness, was kept alive by an ardent 
love of notoriety, lest by any means that love should be 
thwarted. 

KK 



466 EVENTUALITY. 

If we are desirous of learning why it was that the 
greatest of German poets, Goethe, unlike the most famous 
of French poets, was strongly addicted to the study of 
natural history, the source of his predilection may be seen 
in the remarkable saliency of the organs of Individuality 
and Eventuality. To this dissimilarity of taste is in some 
respect to be attributed Goethe's early repudiation of 
the authoritative wisdom of Voltaire. For he says in 
his autobiography — " But when I learned that to weaken 
the tradition of a deluge he had denied all petrified shells, 
and only admitted them as lusus naturce, he entirely lost 
my confidence, for my own eyes had, on the Baschberg, 
plainly enough shewn me that I stood on the bottom of an 
old dried up sea, among the exuvice of its original 
inhabitants." 

And should we strive to divine why Kant, the great 
expounder of transcendental metaphysics, seemed to 
ignore the very existence of anything external to the 
mind, where shall a clue be found to lead us through a 
labyrinth so intricate ? Where, but in the positive science 
which affords its studious followers unerring means of 
finding out the " seats and domiciles which the several 
faculties of the mind do take and occupate in the organs 
of the body." And here it places before us the fact that 
these two organs, particularly Individuality, are but 
poorly developed in Kant, while those of Causality and 
Comparison are excessively prominent and expanded. 

Very different from this was the case with Dr. Gall. 
Like his extraordinary countryman Kant, he was endowed 
with powerful organs of Causality ; but, he possessed also 
an equally fine development of Individuality and Even- 
tuality. Hence, both of these original thinkers sought 
with intense ardour to discover the true causes of mental 



EVENTUALITY. 467 

phenomena. But Gall based his notions on the evidence 
of things and their unvarying characteristics as these were 
discernible in the external world in connexion with the 
operations of the human mind ; while Kant founded his 
system of mental philosophy upon materials that existed 
chiefly in the inward world of his own profound, but 
purely speculative genius. And what is the result ? Gall 
lias declared that the transcendental metaphysics of Kant 
went beyond his comprehension, as a practical system of 
mental philosophy. Gall was not singular in this ; for 
De Quincy, a most enlightened and devoted admirer and 
follower of Kant, says, that few of those who have given 
attention to Kant's writings have come to a proper 
knowledge of his profound and admirable system of 
mental philosophy. 

How different it is with regard to the truly positive 
philosophy of Gall ! Here are no tangled subtilties to 
he unravelled. All is simple, demonstrable, unchang- 
ing; and comprehensible, even by minds of ordinary 
capacity. 

It is interesting to note here that the forehead * of De 
Quincy himself exhibits much of the Kantean type. And 
this will account for his warm appreciation of Kant's 
system of philosophy ; whilst the repugnance of Gall is 
traceable to the superior development of Individuality and 
Eventuality, which cannot rest satisfied with any general 
principles that are not founded upon the invariable coinci- 
dence of demonstrable facts. And if we turn to Edelinck's 
fine portrait of Descartes we shall see how prominent these 
two organs were in the head of that extraordinary genius 
in physical science, as compared with the same organs in 

* See Ms portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. 

K K 2 



468 EVENTUALITY. 

the portrait of Gobinet, the pure-minded moralist of the 
Sorbonne, engraved by the same eminent artist. 

In strict accordance with the doctrine of Gall the first 
of these used his powerfully observant and contemplative 
faculties to elucidate the laws which govern the move- 
ments of the material objects of the universe, whilst the- 
second devoted his talents to the promulgation of rules 
for the guidance of others in the pursuit of their moral 
and religious duties. Yet signs of the purely spiritual 
elements of character are strongly expressed in the elevated 
head of Descartes ; but he was drawn to a craving for a 
minute and thorough knowledge of external things by the 
force of his organs of Individuality and Eventuality. The 
course which he instinctively pursued, in order to accom- 
plish this, led him through the fixed yet intricate paths 
of mathematics, until he at length found himself, as it 
were, an habitual sojourner amid the spheres of the planets. 
But it may be asked why Gall, in whose head these 
organs are equally well developed, was not at all disposed to 
travel in the same line of road in his search for know- 
ledge. The answer to this is clear, succinct, and conclusive. 
Gall was remarkable for the want of adequate prominence, 
and consequent inactivity of the organs of Form, Locality, 
Order, and Number. In Descartes, on the contrary, 
these organs were of very great size. That of Number is 
developed to an extraordinary degree. In the organ of 
Comparison and Causality the advantage was on the side 
of Gall ; and that of Time was, at least, of equal promi- 
nence. A salient organ of Order served to render the- 
author of the renowned treatise on Method sj^stematic. 
The smallness of the same organ in the discoverer of the 
true source of all and each of the mental faculties 
rendered him unsystematic; at least, it prevented him 



EVENTUALITY. 469 

from shewing any tendency to indulge in hasty 
generalization. 

Two very interesting examples of the largeness and 
comparative smallness of the organs of Eventuality and 
Individuality are to be met with in the portraits of the 
famous Dr. William Cullen, and his no less famous antago- 
nist and pupil, in regard to the principles and practice of 
medicine, Dr. John Brown. In the former they were very 
salient, as his portraits and the mask, taken after his death, 
abundantly testify. In the latter, to judge from the print 
of him, engraved by Blake, they are but of moderate 
development; and are not at all on a par with his 
singularly large organs of Causality. In both there are 
strong indications of a tendency as well as much talent, 
for reducing their diversified acquirements into a systematic 
form. Both desired to see the art of medicine based upon 
broad general principles. But Brown, from inherent 
inattention to all the particulars, which influenced the 
judgment of Cullen, was the author of a system of medicine, 
which taught that all diseases are reducible to two general 
categories. But experience does not warrant the sound- 
ness of this theory. And had Brown been endowed with 
paramount organs of Individuality and Eventuality his 
judgment would not have been ruled by such singularly 
abstract general principles. 

In the heads of the most renowned naturalists the organs 
of Eventuality and Individuality are always found to be 
very prominent. Such is the case in the cast from nature 
of the head of the late William Smith of Sunderland, who 
was called the father of Geological sciences. Between his 
forehead and Cuvier's there is a marked resemblance. In 
Brande, Lyell, and Buckland they are strikingly charac- 
teristic. They are very salient in the expanded forehead 



470 EVENTUALITY. 

of Professor Owen, who is unsurpassed in the power as- 
well as the intense love of investigating the minutest 
particulars connected with the physical structure of natural 
objects, as they appear in the wide domain of animated 
nature. 

Barristers, not well endowed with Eventuality and In- 
dividuality, will not excel in quickly adducing cases in 
point, with a view to the strengthening of a client's cause ; 
though, in other respects, they may be possessed of superior 
intellect. In the casts of Abbot, Scarlet, Pollock,. 
Adolphus, Kelly, and Thesiger, these organs are, on the 
contrary, very characteristic; though, in other respects,, 
the foreheads of those successful men differ considerably in 
form. In the broad forehead of Lord Lyndhurst they are 
of striking prominence. And they are peculiarly salient 
in that hard-working lawyer, Lord Truro. In the bust by 
Moore of that eminent equity lawyer and most learned 
judge, Burton, of the Irish bar, Eventuality is finely de- 
veloped in a forehead of superior size and form. Eminent 
men of genius are prompted to devote their time and 
talents to history by the paramount influence of Eventu- 
ality. Striking evidence of this truth is to be met with in 
the heads of Hallam, Mackintosh, Macaulay, Lingard, and 
Turner. 

In the portraits of Gibbon and Eobertson, by Sir 
Joshua Eeynolds, the organ of Eventuality is well 
developed. But its individual saliency is much more 
perceptible in that of the last-named eminent historian.. 
This is owing, in some measure, to the paramount fulness 
of the organs of the reflective faculties — Comparison 
and Causality — in the forehead of the unrivalled author 
of the " History of the Decline and Fall of the Komaii 
Empire." In Eobertson, however, both Individuality and. 



EVENTUALITY. 471 

Eventuality are more strikingly developed. Hence, a 
phrenologist would be led to infer that he would be 
prompted by a strong natural bias of his genius to search 
out with indefatigable industry, and exhibit, in their 
minutest details, whatever could contribute to establish 
and to illustrate his subject. But one would expect to 
find that Gibbon, with ample capacity for the accumula- 
tion of the like materials, would be averse to the 
redundant use of them, and that, in narrating his opinion 
of the causes of the springs and currents of complicated 
political and moral events, he would not be prone to 
make so minute a display of the evidences upon which 
his opinions were founded as Robertson would be disposed 
to adopt. It may be instructive to notice here the fine 
development of the organs of Time and Order in the heads 
of these remarkable writers, in order to draw attention 
to such notable instances of the correspondence between 
the paramount fulness of these parts, and their talents 
for the lucid arrangement of their materials, as well as 
the singular perspicuousness of their style of composition. 
But, though not so disposed to indulge in minuteness 
of detail, Gibbon, to judge by the cerebral indications 
manifested in these portraits, should be capable of giving 
eloquent expression to his views in a strain more com- 
prehensive, more speculative, more lofty and ornate than 
Robertson. The genius of Gibbon would take more 
delight in the elucidation of the general political and 
moral causes of transactions than in the enunciation of 
the particular incidents of which they were constituted. 
In the opinion of De Quincy, his history is faulty in 
that respect. He says, in his account of the Caesars, 
(i that Gibbon brings forward only such facts as allow 
of a scenical treatment, and seems everywhere, by the 



472 EVENTUALITY. 

glancing style of his allusions, to presuppose an acquaint- 
ance the most familiar with that very history which 
he undertakes to deliver." 

Without venturing an opinion as to the soundness of 
this criticism it is worthy of remark that it accords 
exactly with what would be inferred by a phrenologist 
from a careful inspection of Gibbon's portrait, by 
Reynolds. And is it not true that, during the long 
period of eight years? which was spent by the great 
historian as a member of the House of Commons, he 
displayed but little aptitude or predilection for engaging 
practically in the actual conduct of eventful political 
transactions ? 

But it may well be asked how it came to pass that 
Gibbon chose for the display of his marvellous talents 
the very subject which consists essentially of materials 
that address themselves to the organs of Eventuality and 
Individuality? The answer to this question is clear and 
satisfactory. 

In the high expanded forehead of Gibbon the purely 
reflective organs of Comparison and Causality, with those 
of Time and Order, which last are essential to the rapid 
and harmonious association of ideas, prevent a relatively 
but not an actually moderate-sized organ of Eventuality 
from being prominent or even strikingly characteristic, 
owing to their own superior development. And though 
this organ were not instinctively active, in an isolated 
sense, it was not wanting in development enough to 
enjoy and retain the vast stores of historical incidents 
which were conveyed to it through the channels of ancient 
and mediaeval literature by one of the finest organs of 
Language that ever man was endowed with. The para- 
mount force of this organ caused his love of learning to 



EVENTUALITY. 473 

amount to the ardour of a commanding instinct, and 
its assiduousness was insured and augmented by the 
methodising and harmonising influence of his superior 
organs of Time and Order, Causality and Comparison. 

It is not in the nature of things that this passion for 
literature could fail to enhance the native energy of 
Eventuality, since it is to it as the central depot of 
knowledge, that a consciousness of the attainments of 
the other faculties of the mind is to be traced. And 
there being no characteristic display in the portrait of 
Gibbon of those organs from the prominent development 
of which issues a genius for the exact physical sciences, 
his philosophic mind would prompt him instinctively to 
pursue through all its windings the changeful course of 
human affairs, as it is traced on the bright page of 
authentic history. To feel assured of this speciality of 
development it is only necessary to compare Reynolds' 
portrait of Gibbon with those of Sir Isaac Newton, by 
Thornhill and Kneller. In Gibbon, Eventuality was far 
more characteristic than Individuality. In the immensely 
developed brow of Newton the reverse was the case. The 
genius of physics found her brightest seat in the appro- 
priately organised forehead of the latter. That of the 
former was more adapted to become the shrine of the 
genius of metaphysics. He should be intellectually more 
speculative also and more sceptical. But the native 
strength of Eventuality, though not predominant, was 
yet fully adequate to imbue his mind with a strong bias 
to search for wisdom and philosophy in regard to the 
springs, the courses, and the issues of human conduct 
in the notable facts of history, than in the conjectural 
theories which form the groundwork of metaphysics. 

It is interesting to observe, and instructive also in 



474 EVENTUALITY. 

regard to the evidences of Phrenology, that the fine 
foreheads of Edmund Burke and Edward Gibbon bore a 
strong resemblance to one another, only that Individuality 
was more developed in Burke. And a strong character- 
istic likeness can be traced between those of Charles 
James Fox and Robertson. But in Fox, Causality was 
more prominent. 

Under the head of Individuality many great names 
have been adduced as evidences of the existence and local 
position of that organ, which are equally adapted to cor- 
roborate all that has been affirmed respecting Eventuality. 
Nevertheless, it may not be unimpressive to state here 
that this organ is much more salient in the mask of Dean 
Swift than in that of Dr. Johnson, in the cast of Cobbett 
than in that of Godwin. In the casts of Richard Brinsley 
Sheridan and Napoleon I., this organ is very characteristic. 
But in Sheridan it was relatively more marked, owing to 
the greater size of the reflective organs, especially Causality, 
in the forehead of the great Napoleon. And the rare 
capacity of this wonderful man for the rapid and clear 
comprehension of multifarious and complicated events 
was strictly accordant with the superior development of 
the organs of Eventuality and Individuality. As to 
Sheridan, the ease and brilliancy with which he could 
illustrate by means of particular incidents whatever sub- 
ject he might choose to adorn with eloquence, was trium- 
phantly evinced in his famous speech on the Begum 
charge against Warren Hastings. 

The casts from nature of William Godwin and William 
Cobbett afford marked evidence of the correctness of the 
view taken in regard to the function of this organ. They 
both possessed powerful heads, but these were very unliko 
in their general contour. This disparity was strikingly 



EVENTUALITY. 475 

apparent in the predominant relative development of the 
organ of Eventuality in the forehead of Cobbett, and the 
absence of saliency as to the same organ in Godwin. 
And while the reflective organs — Comparison and Caus- 
ality — were singularly large in the author of " Caleb 
Williams " and " Political Justice," Causality was but 
moderate in the head of Cobbett. 

Now, Godwin was characteristically speculative. He 
was too much inclined to rest on generalities. Nor was 
he sufficiently prone to make " an acquaintance with 
things." He loved to dwell upon the causes of things 
rather than upon the things themselves. Cobbett's genius, 
on the contrary, was eminently statistical and actual. And 
his industry in pursuit of a practical knowledge of things 
and of passing events was great in the extreme. Nor was 
he satisfied with learning things through the experience 
of others. He resolved to test them personally. Indeed, 
so versatile were the lines of his active duties that, like 
Cato of old, he gave practical attention to many things ; 
and like him, too, he was capable of displaying rare 
intellectual capacity in every one of them. But he did 
not attempt to indulge in profound metaphysical dis- 
quisitions respecting the motives or the true causes of 
human conduct, which was so germane to the fine con- 
templative intellect of Godwin. Neither did he ever seem 
to feel the charming glow of enthusiasm for whatever is 
refined and beautiful, which shed a radiance around the 
philosophic imaginings of Godwin, because his head was 
poorly furnished with the organ of Ideality, which forms 
a conspicuous feature in the head of the author of " St. 
Leon." 

The forehead of Edmund Burke, to judge from a cast 
of his face, taken in the prime of life by Hickie, the 



476 EVENTUALITY. 

sculptor, presents a combination of the leading intellectual 
characteristics of both of them, and that in an eminent 
measure. Hence he would be less prone to dwell on 
mere particularities in his political disquisitions than 
Cobbett, though he never lost sight of them ; less given 
to revel in speculative generalities than Godwin, he was 
thus rendered more capable of soaring, in safety, to the 
highest pitch of comprehensive political speculation than 
the latter profound and original thinker, because he never 
was in the habit of overlooking such particulars as were 
likely to weaken the tenour of his argument. 

" Though his venturous spirit sometimes loved to urge 
The labouring theme to reason's utmost verge, 
Kindling and mounting from the enraptured sight." 

It was in the organs of Causality and Ideality that 
Cobbett fell far short of both of them. 

Both Eventuality and Individuality are particularly con- 
spicuous in the head of Thomas Paine, who, though bred a 
staymaker, and subsequently a sailor-boy on board a 
privateer, nevertheless, distinguished himself greatly as a 
political writer and an active promoter of revolutionary 
doctrines : while the same organs are not at all character- 
istic features in the portrait of Robert Bloomfield, the 
shoemaker poet, who was instinctively devoted to a life of 
contemplation and poetical seclusion, because the organs of 
the reflective faculties and those of the senses of poetic 
beauty and spirituality were predominant in him. Such 
was not the case with Paine, though the general develop- 
ment of his forehead was equable and good. But it may 
be interesting and instructive to state that the organ of 
the sense of the supernatural was remarkably small in the 
head of Thomas Paine. 



EVENTUALITY. 477 

In the mask of Ki chard Eobert Jones, the poor 
Welsh sawyer, and the self-taught master of many lan- 
guages, Eventuality is but poorly developed, especially 
when it is compared with that of language. And 
an unconquerable inattention to passing events was a 
leading feature of his character, as has been elsewhere 
more particularly noticed. In the fine mezzotint print of 
Jedediah Buxton, the wonderful arithmetical calculator^ 
this organ is also very moderately developed. And the 
interesting anecdote, already told, shews how singularly 
inactive the faculty was in this illiterate peasant. 

What a marked contrast is presented, in regard to the 
organs of Eventuality and Individuality, between the heads 
of Jones and Buxton and that of John Phelps, of whom 
there exists a fine whole-length portrait in mezzotint. 
This man, up to the age of twenty-four, was but a humble 
stable boy in the service of Chief Justice Parker, after- 
wards Earl of Macclesfield. But, having by his merit, 
it is said, been raised to the upper employments in that 
family, he was, at last, for his uncommon genius promoted 
to be observer in their observatory at Sherburn Castle. 

Now, although this stable boy was endowed with a good 
development of the organs of Language and Number, he 
did not, like Jones and Buxton, give his attention, 
abstractedly and entirely, either to languages or arithmeti- 
cal computation to the neglect of external incidents ; but 
was always disposed to apply himself to the faithful admini- 
stration of matters appertaining to his master's household. 
And in this he seems to have been eminently successful. 

So intense, however, was his desire to gain a knowledge 
of external nature — of objects and phenomena especially 
in regard to the " heavenly bodies" — that he could spare 
to devote to the study of astronomy sufficient time to 



478 EVENTUALITY. 

qualify him to fill the scientific position assigned to him 
by his distinguished master. 

The evidence, both negative and affirmative, afforded by 
these remarkable men is the more satisfactory because 
the low sphere in which they were born leaves no ground 
for attributing to education, to family connection, or to 
self-interest, any share in giving to each the peculiar 
intellectual bias which distinguished him. 

Eventuality is flat in new-born children. But the 
rapid increase of development in this part of the forehead 
is observable at a very early period. This increase is 
owing to the active exercise which devolves upon this 
organ through the incessent curiosity of infants, whose 
attention is awakened by everything that comes before 
them. 

It has been shewn, already, that every organ, when it 
is a dominant one, must be and is productive of attention. 
But that the sphere of its attention is confined within 
the field which it instinctively traverses. It is thus with 
Language, Tune, or Number. The scope of Eventuality 
as to attention is more comprehensive and versatile. For, 
as the desire of gaining knowledge, in the general 
acceptation of the term, and also of communicating it, 
is certainly an attribute of this faculty, it follows that 
its own attention is directed to the exciting of the atten- 
tion of the other intellectual powers. In this, of course, 
it would be successful in proportion to the native power 
of each primitive faculty, and no farther. 

Yet it would be an error to suppose that this faculty, 
even when it is very active, is capable of fixing the 
attention for an adequate space of time upon phenomena, 
if the sense of the duration of time and the sense of order 
be remarkably weak. 



EVENTUALITY. 479 

In such a case there would be a strong inclination to 
gain miscellaneous knowledge ; but only in a desultory 
manner. Knowledge like this would be wanting in the 
due connection of parts. Its objects are various, but they 
are detached from one another and broken. There is a 
want of intellectual harmony in the association of the 
ideas of children who are thus organized. They are 
" bird-witted," as Bacon has expressively saicL, Still 
they possess the faculty of attention. But it is shortlived 
and versatile. It is attention by " fits and starts." 

It is not to be forgotten that this mental peculiarity is 
due also, in a considerable degree, to an inadequate 
development of Causality. 

It is hoped that the attempt now made to draw a true 
line of distinction between the functions of Individuality 
and Eventuality will be deemed a successful one ; and 
that the sphere of action of the latter will not be looked 
upon as being unduly expanded, from having assigned 
to it the power of taking cognizance of the special 
operations of all the other faculties both moral and 
intellectual ; as well as of the acts or states of being of 
the organs that are purely corporeal in their functions. 

To it, therefore, is to be referred the conception of the 
existence of pleasure and pain, whether these be of the 
mind or of the body. And here, consequently, is to be 
found the true cerebral seat of Consciousness. Here 
alone is entertained a conception of the existence of the 
entity Self. It is the place where all the varied attributes 
and accidents of Self meet in concentrated unity. 

Individuality, on the contrary, does not take cognisance 
of the functions of the other organs. It perceives objects 
in their abstract unity, but it can form no conception of 
the existence of their attributes. It supplies Eventuality 



480 EVENTUALITY. 

with things in their individual state and in detail. But 
it is the other perceptive organs which supply that centre 
of perception with the means of acquiring a knowledge 
of the essential and diverse qualities of things. 

Men with but a moderate endowment of these two- 
organs, however powerfully intellectual they may other- 
wise be, will never become eminent as authorities in 
statistical details. 

The organ of Eventuality lies exactly in the centre of 
the forehead. It has the reflective organs above it, those 
of Individuality and Locality beneath it, and those of 
Time on each side of it. 



SENSE OF TIME. 



It seems obvious enough that there exists in the mind 
of man a special elementary faculty which enables him 
to perceive the existence of Time as well as the measure 
of its duration, so far as it regards the relative length 
or shortness of it, without its being at the same time 
endowed with the power of marking epochs. To com- 
prehend these it requires the co-operation of the faculty 
which perceives events. And, should a series of events 
be recalled to the mind, it is through the faculty of Time 
that man is rendered capable of feeling whether the 
time of their happening has long since passed away, or 
is comprised in a shorter interval. This kind of percep- 
tion may exist without there being a distinct notion of 
the order of their succession or of their dates, for in this 
case the faculties of Order and Number are its essential 
auxiliaries. 

The marked distinction between the faculty of Eventu- 
ality and that of Time is well seen in young children. 
Their curiosity is very great and they retain a strong 
memory of things, but they have scarcely any notion of 
duration. All time appears as yesterday to them. This 
would at least seem to be the case, for they call all past 
time yesterday. When a little older, a child will say to 
one he likes, " Oh, it is a long time since I saw you." 
But as yet he has no conception of the number of weeks 

L L 



482 SENSE OF TIME. 

or days that may have elapsed since the former visit. 
Can anything more clearly shew than this, the successive 
growth of the elementary faculties ? And how interest- 
ing it is to see that the beneficent Creator has bestowed 
precedence in action upon the faculties which minister 
to the wants of childhood as they arise in their natural 
succession. And as the knowledge of things, whether 
moral or intellectual, is that wh'ich should first be learned, 
so it is found that the organ which imbues the mind with 
the love of knowing everything that passes is always the 
first to shew a rapid increase of development. 

Time past, time present, and time future, then, are 
mental conceptions, which certainly can be felt with- 
out reference to any incidents connected with either 
of these states, or to the number and order of succession 
of such incidents, or the place of their occurrence. 

If, then, there is a special elementary faculty for 
perceiving time and its duration, there must be a proper 
organ for its manifestation. And long tried experience 
is sure to inspire a thorough conviction that that organ 
lies on each side of Eventuality, and that it is, also, in 
immediate contact with the organs of Order, Number, 
Causality, and Tune. The immediate proximity of Time 
and Tune is important, for, though the melodious com- 
bination of musical sounds is the specific function of the 
organ of Tune, or Melody, yet it cannot preserve these 
melodious tones in true rhythmical harmony without bars 
or divisions of time. To do this, a keen appreciation 
of the required duration of musical sounds is necessary, 
and it is to the part of the forehead now under considera- 
tion that this function belongs. 

But howsoever great the value of a good organ of Time 
is to the production of harmony in musical compositions, 



SENSE OF TIME. 483 

there are other conditions wherein its co-operation is of 
far greater importance to mankind. According to an 
invariable law, every organ, when it is strong, desires 
to be engaged in the active performance of its own 
function, and that of Time, like the rest, is affected in 
the same manner. But how does it act ? It, instinctively, 
when strong, prompts its possessor to set a high value 
upon time, and as " Time flies fast," and as he cannot 
arrest the progress of what he so highly appreciates, he 
strives to make the best use he can of it. Hence a keen 
habitual sense of the value of time is naturally a very 
influential, nay, indispensable ingredient in the composi- 
tion of an industrious character. And as perseverance 
is a condition of industry, it also must be enhanced in 
power by the presence of a large organ of Time. 

To help to keep up a spirit of persevering industry, 
then, is one of the valuable attributes of this faculty. 
But there is yet another point in which, when dominant, 
it exercises an important influence upon the efforts of the 
other intellectual powers. For, if the harmonious intervals 
of musical sounds are dependent on a correct perception 
of time, it is not irrational to suppose that sustained 
harmony in the arrangement of our thoughts and words 
will be proportioned to the relative size of the organ of 
Time, especially when it is acting in unison with the 
sense of Order. 

If this be the case (and it is one that is sustained by 
a vast amount of evidence) there can be no kind of doubt 
that, if there be two persons whose foreheads strongly 
resemble each other, except in the region of the organ 
of Time, which is ill-developed in one and prominent 
in the other, there can be no doubt that the latter will 
have a far greater facility in arranging his ideas and the 

L L 2 



484 SENSE OF TIME. 

words that express them than the former. The result 
of this is exceedingly important. And what is that result ? 
It is nothing less than intellectual assiduity spontaneously 
adopted and practised, even without the stimulus of 
necessity or ambition, although, of course, its native 
activity is promoted by such powerful incentives. But 
what is the immediate cause of the want of assiduousness 
in the other? It is the feeling of irksomeness which is 
the natural attendant upon every serious sustained effort 
of the intellect when a vivid consciousness of the difficulty 
to complete the effort is felt. It is not in the nature of 
man, or of any other living thing, assiduously to pursue 
that which is distasteful to it. And no one can love to- 
approach that which is always surrounded by difficulties. 

Intellectual assiduity and perseverance, then, are in- 
compatible with incapacity to arrange and harmoniously 
associate the ideas. And, as this power of intellectual 
combination is greatly enhanced by the ample develop- 
ment of the organ of Time, the importance of an early 
judicious cultivation of it cannot be overrated. 

Did schoolmasters but know what I am now endeavour- 
ing to explain, they would not fall into the fatal, and often 
cruel error of attributing to intentional delinquency the 
idleness which is the unhappy offspring of ill-balanced 
intellectual organs, as well as ill-developed ones. 

Even phrenologists of eminence seem not to be aware of 
the scope and influence of the organ of Time, when it is 
acting in harmony with the other intellectual organs. 

In 1841, a marked instance of this occurred in my 
presence at Deville's Museum, which he opened daily to* 
the members of the Phrenological Association, who were 
at that time holding their meetings at the Society of 
Arts. On that occasion, Deville was being somewhat 






SENSE OF TIME. 485 

•discourteously treated by two gentlemen who had pub- 
lished some occasional essays on Phrenology. One of 
them was a clever public lecturer on the subject. They 
even went so far as to express a doubt of the truth of 
something he had asserted, because they deemed it an 
impossibility. Not being in the group of persons that he 
was speaking to, I did not hear, at first, the subject of 
their doubts. But Deville feeling offended at the manner 
in which he was treated, tested their skill by asking them 
to point out the intellectual qualities of a boy, eleven 
years of age, whose cast he handed to them. They 
observed that the organs of Individuality, Eventuality, 
and Comparison were large, and that Causality was by no 
means deficient, and concluded by pronouncing him to be 
-a very clever boy. Upon this Deville coolly said, " You 
are quite in error, for it happens that the father of this 
boy permitted me to take a cast of his child's head, from 
my having told him that it would be very difficult to 
impart instruction to him, and that it would be a hard 
task to get him to spell a simple word of two syllables. 
And such he acknowledged to be the fact." I then dis- 
tinctly heard, from where I was standing apart, that 
these well known phrenologists could not understand how 
this was done, and, therefore, could hardly believe that 
it was done. Deville immediately said that there was a 
gentleman then in the gallery, who had predicated the 
same thing. They instantly turned round and looked 
towards me, because I was known to be intimately ac- 
quainted with Deville and his fine collection, and then 
asked him what were the data on which his opinion was 
formed. " I shan't tell you," was the sharp, sudden reply 
of the truthful man, who felt stung by the doubts openly 
flung upon his veracity. 



486 SENSE OF TIME. 

Now, though the organs of Individuality, Eventuality, 
and Comparison were well developed in this cast, there 
was a singular deficiency of the organ of Time. And, as 
it is greatly owing to the activity of this organ that the 
ideas are harmoniously and rapidly associated, there can 
be no hesitation in thinking that the harmonious associa- 
tion of the words composing those ideas, must be also, in 
some measure, the result of the action of the same faculty. 
And may not the range of its usefulness be extended to 
the due combination of syllables, and even of letters, which 
constitute coriect spelling. 

To assist in producing harmonious action among the 
faculties, then, is a most important attribute of this 
elementary power. The absence, or rather the great 
weakness, of it, therefore, in this boy precluded him from 
perceiving the harmony existing between certain verbal 
sounds and the letters of which they are composed. Un- 
doubtedly, the faculties of Order, Form, and Locality 
contribute to facility in spelling, and they were not 
salient features of this boy's forehead. But these were 
not active enough in Dr. Gall either, and there is no 
recorded evidence of his having been at all deficient in 
talent for spelling. In him, however, the organ of Time 
was very large, and how admirably it harmonised with 
his finely developed organs of the highest faculties of the 
intellect is fully shewn in his great work on the brain and 
its functions. 

After a careful investigation of facts, on a very large 
scale, as they presented themselves at every period of life, 
I am bound to feel convinced that this attempt to enlarge 
the sphere of action of the sense of Time has immutable 
facts to rest upon. Would it not be preposterous to 
suppose that it is merely an appendage to the sense of 



SENSE OF TIME. 487 

Tune, when its organ is found to be very large in some 
cases where that of Tune is either small or moderately 
developed ? Gall's own head affords marked evidence of 
this. Another notable instance is to be seen in the cast of 
Napoleon, taken after his decease. And in Dr. Johnson 
the organ of Time was large and that of Melody small. 
Time was remarkably salient in Daniel O'Connell and in 
Edmund Burke. Yet, none of these great men were 
remarkable for superior sensitiveness in regard to the 
charms of music. On the other hand, how distinguished 
are they in the world's history for the faculty of rapidly 
combining and arranging their thoughts, and of expressing 
them harmoniously as well as of acting upon them 
assiduously. An ardent love of becoming distinguished, 
or the love of gain, will naturally prompt one to make an 
industrious use of his intellectual faculties, although he be 
but scantily endowed with Time and Order. He does this, 
however, with a feeling of irksomeness, which could only 
be overcome, but not removed, by such powerful incen- 
tives. It is felt as a task he would willingly forego, and 
not as a labour of love. And why is this so ? Because 
the difficulty of arranging the thoughts causes painful 
hesitation in applying them steadily to any important 
pursuit. Procrastinating habits are engendered ; and 
faculties are thus comparatively useless, which, with 
Time as their good ally, would lead their possessor to 
fortune. 

The characteristic cerebral development of some 
aboriginal races is strikingly illustrative of the truth of 
the view here taken of the scope and tendency of the 
organ of Time. And in none is this more strongly 
exemplified than in the heads and sculls of native Africans 
of the Negro race. In them the frontal portion of the 



488 SENSE OF TIME. 

head is not only smaller, botli absolutely and relatively, 
than the same part in the European, but it is also far 
less symmetrical ; and this want of symmetry is particularly 
apparent in the scanty development of the organ of Time. 
From the Bushman, diminutive both in body and mind, 
to the brave Caffre, so superior to him in every respect, 
this deficiency is prevalent. But the want is far more 
marked in the Bushman than in the Cafire, or indeed in 
any other negro tribe whose sculls have fallen under my 
notice. And I have compared many sculls of Africans, 
belonging to various tribes of negroes. 

It is to this great relative deficiency of the external parts 
of the forehead that their indolence and comparative mental 
incapacity is to be attributed ; for they are well enough 
endowed with the organs which perceive and remember 
external objects and events. But they cannot arrange 
and combine their ideas. Neither can they compose and 
harmonize musical tones, though they are often capable 
of feeling the charm of melody. They often possess a 
well developed organ of Language, of words, yet they 
cannot be taught, even by much experience, to arrange 
them into harmonious sentences. To give a particular 
instance, I may mention the case of a domestic servant 
from Barbadoes, whose mother was a negress. This young 
woman was an acute observer of what was happening 
around her ; she possessed a good memory both of things 
and words. She was fluent enough in talking, but was 
greatly deficient in the proper collocation of her words. 
Being in attendance on an only child she was a great 
favourite, and efforts were made to teach her to read ; but 
it was with the greatest difficulty she could be brought to 
spell the shortest and simplest words. This girl's fore- 
head resembled that of the boy, to whom I have already 



SENSE OF TIME. 489 

alluded ; but in respect to prominence of the forehead it 
was much superior. 

But it may be said that many negroes have manifested 
superior intellectual power. No doubt they have. Some 
as preachers of the Gospel, some even as governors of 
provinces. Of these, two at least have acquired great 
names. But were these wanting in the part of the fore- 
head I am now discussing ? It would be an anomaly 
in nature's invariable laws if such were the case. For 
if we look to the busts and portraits and casts from 
nature and sculls of the men who have become great 
among their fellows, we shall be sure to find that the 
part of the forehead of which the organ of Time occupies 
the centre was largely developed. Look, for instance, 
to Washington and Franklin, to Webster, to Clay, to 
Buchannan, and to Jackson in America, and though 
differing much in their intellectual characteristics it will 
be found that they all possessed in an eminent degree 
the qualities which I am convinced do reside in the portion 
of the anterior lobe of the brain which forms its external 
parts, and which parts were well developed in all of them. 
Henry the Fourth of France and his brave and wise 
minister Sully, Charles the Fifth and William the First 
of Orange, Pope Julius the Second and Frederick of 
Prussia, all these through their authentic portraits, afford 
notable evidence of the coincidence between the develop- 
ment of the organ in question, and the functions which 
I aver with the confidence of undeviating experience truly 
to belong to it. 

Were it not a tedious procedure the names of the 
greatest men of our country and of foreign nations, with 
the forms of whose foreheads I am familiarly acquainted, 
could be adduced here as conclusive evidence of the truth 
of what has just been averred. 



490 SENSE OF TIME, 

But as it will be necessary to revert to these points 
in the course of the discussion on the organ of Language, 
their names shall be reserved for that occasion. 

I trust that it will have appeared evident that the 
perception of duration or the sense of Time is an ele- 
mentary faculty of the mind, and that its function is not 
confined to the production of harmonious intervals in 
music, but that it exercises a far more extensive 
influence on the operations of the intellectual faculties. 
And I also hope that a sufficient amount of evidence has 
been adduced to shew that the organ of that important 
elementary auxiliary faculty is seated where its energies 
are specially wanted. 

"When Time and Order are large the forehead generally, 
but not always, appears square. Not always, because 
when Eventuality and Individuality are very large there 
may be a good development of' those organs, and yet the 
forehead be wanting in squareness. Such was the case in 
Curran, Home Tooke, Eichard Brinsley Sheridan, 
Reverend Arthur O'Leary, the celebrated Irish statesman, 
Henry Flood, in the poet Moore, and in many other 
distinguished men who could be named were it necessary. 
But the experienced eye can at once detect when there 
is a deficency in this organ. 

A powerful organ of Time, then, ought to be considered 
an essential promoter of the well-balanced activity, effective- 
ness, and continuous industry of the intellectual faculties. 
For, without doubt, there exists evidence, the most abun- 
dant, that all those men who are universally deemed the 
intellectual ornaments of their respective countries, were, 
in every instance, without regard to peculiarities of genius, 
endowed with a fine development of the part of the forehead 
which lies between Eventuality and Tune : while deficiency 



SENSE OF TIME. 491 

of talent, or rather the want of power of symmetrizing it 
and of assiduously using it, even when it exists in no 
stinted measure, may always be predicated, when there 
appears a marked relative deficiency of the same part. 
And the incapacity is augmented by the smallness of the 
organ of Order. 

But it would be a mistake to suppose that superior 
talent always shews itself where the organs of Time and 
Order are large. For these organs are chiefly for the 
purpose of arranging harmoniously the fruits of the action 
of those organs which acquire a knowledge of objects and 
events — of phenomena — as they exist in the universe 
around us, and in the workings of our own thoughts and 
feelings. Thus does the organ of Time materially enhance 
the efficiency of the observing and reflective faculties, and 
even serves to augment their inherent measure of power, 
for assiduous exercise of the intellectual faculties certainly 
promotes the growth of their organs, even in the adult ; 
and as increased size is always accompanied by additional 
power, so that which serves to cause that increase of size, 
must also tend to augment the power. 

Even mediocrity of intellect is, with such an auxiliary, 
capable of piloting its possessor more prosperously through 
the changeful affairs of life than can superior powers of 
observation, imagination, and reflection, in the absence of 
an adequate development of the organ which instinctively 
prompts us to take time by the forelock. 

Here it will be well to note that the organ of Time 
is inadequately developed in the great majority of those 
children who have fallen early into vicious and criminal 
courses through bad example, but not always so much 
from inherent depravity as from an arrant proclivity to 
shirk intellectual industry. 



TUNE, OR MELODY. 



<l Such a person has a good ear," is a form of expression 
very commonly used to designate anyone who manifests a 
keen perception of melodious combinations of sounds. 
This is only one of the many mistakes that have been com- 
mitted by those who have deemed the external senses to be 
the appreciating recipients of outward things. Whereas 
they are only the conductors of impressions to those organs 
in the brain which are alone competent to perceive the 
distinctive qualities of such things. The fact that some 
eminent composers of music were deaf, is in itself a 
thorough refutation of such an opinion. Indeed, one of the 
greatest of all musical composers — Beethoven, was quite 
deaf; yet he continued to produce from the salient spring 
of his own instinctive musical imagination some of the most 
soul-inspiring and deeply affecting melody that has ever 
been composed. One of the most extraordinary instances 
of precocious musical genius was exhibited by Handel in 
his early childhood ; and perseveringly he strove to follow 
this instinctive bias of his mind, notwithstanding the direct 
prohibition of his father, who wished to make a lawyer of 
him. He used to creep up to the garret, when the family 
were in bed, and there play for some time upon a clavi- 
chord. At seven years of age he used to get into the 
organ loft, after church time, and play upon the organ in a 
style which so surprised the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels that 






TUNE. 493 

his highness prevailed upon the child's father to have him 
instructed in music. At nine years of age he composed 
the church service for voices and instruments. Was not 
this a marvellous instance of the force of an innate faculty 
becoming spontaneously active and asserting its supremacy 
in the face of the most powerful opposition ? 

The " Infant Lyra " evinced symptoms of delight 
on hearing sweet music when she was only six months- 
old, and manifested displeasure at some tones. At three 
years she astonished every one who heard her by the 
performance of her own extemporaneous compositions on 
the harp. The face of this child, as painted by Taylor, 
and engraved by Lewis, has a peculiarly seraphic expres- 
sion of countenance, and the outer portion of the forehead, 
where the organs of Melody and Time are seated, is 
extraordinarily large. 

The organ of Tune lies immediately above that of Order, 
at the external angle of the forehead. When very large 
it forms a marked projection at that part, but should 
Order be also large, the organ of Tune seems less dis- 
tinctly protuberant. It is to Gall we owe the discovery 
of the organ of Tune. One day his attention was called 
to a child named Bianchi, who was only five years old, 
and he was asked what was the most remarkable talent 
of this child. He saw nothing in the form of her fore- 
head which indicated extraordinary memory, and he had 
no idea, at that time, that talent for music could be 
discovered by the form of the head. He did not then 
know the different kinds of memory. It happened that 
this little girl had so strong a memory of music that she 
could repeat with exactness whole concertos, after hearing 
them twice played, but her memory in every other respect, 
was not at all remarkable. His friends, on this occasion, 



494 TUNE. 

thought that his ideas with respect to the external signs 
of memory were false. But to the sagacious mind of 
Gall it afforded the first clue which enabled him to unravel 
the tangled skein that led him to the discovery of the 
natural law which teaches that there are different kinds 
of memory and distinct organs in the brain for their 
manifestation. Thenceforth, he took every means of 
finding out the distinctive peculiarity in the form of the 
heads of men remarkable for musical talent and genius. 
He took casts of them. He compared them over and 
over again, and finding them to differ in their general 
form he was puzzled, but after long and careful examina- 
tion he found a marked protuberance in all of them at 
the external angle of the forehead, which extended to 
about an inch and a half above the angle of the eyebrow. 
Subsequent inquirers have ascertained beyond any doubt 
that the seat of the organ has been rightly pointed out 
by Gall. 

For instance, let the mask of Malibran, taken from 
nature, be compared with that of Anne Omorod, a pupil 
in the blind school of Liverpool, and who is there that 
must not be instantly struck with surprise at the contrast 
they present — the one rich in form, full, protuberant, 
where the organ of Tune lies ; the other poor, flat, nay, 
even sunken at the same part. The musical genius of 
Malibran often contributed to infuse for a time, at least, 
a joyous and buoyant sympathy through the living frames 
even of some who were " weary and heavy-laden." The 
poor blind girl, on the contrary, could not appreciate 
a note of music. The magnificent pealing of the organ 
alarmed her, until she was removed from that which 
rendered her unhappy. This child was not at all dull 
or disinclined to learn other things, as the rest of her 



TUNE. 495 

forehead phrenologically indicates. Or let the fine mask 
from nature of Weber be placed side by side with that 
of the first Napoleon, and the most unpractised eye cannot 
but detect the great absolute and relative development 
of the organ of the sense of the melodious relations of 
tones in Weber, and the comparative smallness of the 
same organ in the far more ample forehead of the great 
general and statesman. That Weber, who died young, 
was a musical genius of the highest order is universally 
acknowledged. Even Beethoven himself, while charac- 
terising the musical qualities of the greatest masters of 
the divine art, not only includes Weber in his category, 
but extols him as a musical genius of the first class. 

Napoleon, according to Bourrienne, had very little 
capacity for the appreciation of melody. Can there be a 
stronger instance than this given to prove that a man of 
very great and varied genius may exist, who will yet be 
totally incapable of displaying the humblest capacity in 
some special intellectual pursuit. 

In the mask of Samuel Johnson, taken by order of his 
friend Sir Joshua Eeynolds, the organ of Music is very 
poorly developed. And he was in a great measure 
insensible to the charms of music. Compare his mask 
with the cast of Mendelssohn and see what a disparity. 
In Mendelssohn the organ stands out in bold relief. How 
different also it appears in the capacious forehead of Gall. 
There the organ of Tune is seen to be very moderate in 
its development, and Gall, according to his biographer, 
Di\ Fossati, had no ear for music. 

Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Moore. Both these great 
poets had, according to the evidence of their casts, taken 
from nature, high and well-formed foreheads ; but each 
was distinguished by well-marked characteristics ; amongst 



496 TUNE. 

which the contrast between their organs of Tune was the 
most conspicuous. 

In Scott the organ is very moderately developed indeed, 
and the musical faculty was weak in him. His ear for 
melody is said to have been not particularly sensitive. 
Moore's mask, on the contrary, displays a great develop- 
ment of the organ ; and his genius for music was of 
rather a high order. His sensitiveness to true melody 
and harmony is conspicuous in his diversified style of 
poetical composition, whether it be humorous, descriptive, 
or lyrical. Indeed, he seemed to feel that the divine spirit 
of music possessed him by a more potent spell than even 
poetry itself, when he thus addressed the Harp — 

" If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover, 
Bevive at its lay, 'tis thy glory alone, 
I was just as the wind passing heedlessly over, 
And all the wild sweetness I waked was thine own." 

His appreciation of the charms of music is still more- 
strongly expressed in the following harmonious verse — 

" Music, oh ! how faint how weak 
Language fades before thy spell ! 
Why shoiild feeling ever speak, 
When thou cans't tell its tale so well. 
Friendship's balmy words may feign, 
Love's are ev'n more false than they ; 
Oh ! 'tis only music's strain 
Can sweetly soothe and not betray." 

But it may be said that Dr. Johnson wrote verses that 
were correctly rhythmical with great facility, notwith- 
standing his deficiency in the power of keenly appre- 
ciating the delicate beauties of melody. And whence 
did he derive this power, if not from the faculty of 
Time ? From a keen perception of the duration of time 



TUNE. 497 

and a capacity for measuring it. And this was owing 
to a fine development of the organ of Time ; assisted by 
a strong power of arrangement. But though Johnson's 
poetical compositions were rhythmically correct it cannot 
be said that they were not wanting in the exquisite 
melodiousness which characterizes the poetry of Moore 
and Coleridge. To illustrate this I will, as a contrast to 
Coleridge's Genevieve, quote a few lines on Death from 
Johnson's Irene. 

" Reflect that life and death, affecting sounds, 
Are only varied modes of endless being : 
Reflect that life, like every other blessing, 
Derives its valne from its use alone : 
Not for itself, but for a nobler end, 
The eternal gave it, and that end is virtue. 
"When inconsistent with a greater good, 
Reason commands to cast the less away ; 
Thus life, with loss of wealth, is well preserved, 
And virtue cheaply saved with loss of life." 

These lines are certainly rhythmical but they have little 
melody in their composition. Pope possessed extraordinary 
capacity for expressing his thoughts in verse that was at 
once perspicuous, pointed, eloquent, and harmonious. 
And yet he is said not to have been gifted with high 
musical susceptibility. Neither was he endowed with a 
large organ of Melody. Yet, such as it was, it harmonized 
admirably with his finely developed and symmetrical organs 
of Order and Time. Indeed, in the scull of Pope all the 
organs of the intellectual faculties were exquisitely balanced 
and harmoniously blended. But, notwithstanding the 
finish and elegance of his heroic stanza, he has not evinced 
that variety of musical cadence which a refined perception 
of melody alone is calculated to create, and which is so 

M M 



498 TUNE. 

striking a characteristic of Moore's genius. In the mask 
of Coleridge the organ of Melody, as well as those of Order 
and Time, is large ; and the tuneful beauty of versification 
is the offspring of a fine perception of harmony. As, for 
instance, in his simple, charming address to Genevieve : — 

" Maid of my love, sweet Genevieve, 
In beauty's light you glide along ; 
Tom* eye is like the star of eve, 
And sweet your voice as seraph's song. 
Tet not your heavenly beauty gives 
This heart with passion soft to glow ; 
Within your soul a voice there lives ! 
It bids you hear the tale of woe, 
When sinking low the sufferer wan 
Beholds no hand outstretched to save, 
Fair as the bosom of the swan 
That rises graceful o'er the wave, 
I have seen your breast with pity heave, 
And therefore love I you, sweet Genevieve." 

The organ of Melody is but moderately developed in the 
mask of Dean Swift ; and his versification, fluent, smooth, 
unconstrained, and rhythmical, as it undoubtedly is, is yet 
comparatively devoid of the melodious cadences which, in 
so remarkable a degree, characterize the writings of Moore 
and Coleridge. But Moore possessed a genius for music, 
and its charms filled the heart of Coleridge with glowing 
sensibility : while the simplest forms of music had no 
affective influence upon the feelings of Swift. 

But the organs of Time and Order were very large in 
this great genius, and hence the measure and easy flowing 
rhythm of his verses. 

But, if the organ of Tune is larger in Moore than in 
Scott, and in Coleridge than in Byron, it is yet larger in 
Weber than in Moore, and larger in Mozart, Handel, 



TUNE. 499 

Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Rossini, than it is in 
the masks of either Moore or Coleridge. Yet the organ is 
very large in Moore ; and is more characteristic of him 
than of Coleridge. There is little doubt that Moore might 
have become a distinguished musical composer, had not the 
bias of his general faculties drawn him to the cultivation of 
poetry. For the organ of Language is a dominant feature 
of his head. 

There is now before me a small print of Beethoven, 
published at Leipsic in 1801. In it the development of the 
organ of Tune is immensely protuberant. And it runs up to 
a large organ of Ideality, with which it is harmoniously 
blended. His forehead, too, is finely formed and large, 
and his head seems to be abundantly endowed with the 
organs of the affections. 

How well and feelingly did the poet Leigh Hunt, who 
had a soul for music, describe the effect of Beethoven's 
charming strains : — 

" And strange was the shout, when it wept, hearing thee, 
Thou soul full of grace as of grief, my heart-cloven, 
My poor, my most rich, my all-feeling Beethoven." 

And from the delight felt on witnessing the exquisite 
performance of his affecting opera, u Fidelio," with Shroeder 
Devrient as the heroine, I am induced to notice the develop- 
ment of the organ of Tune in the cast of that distinguished 
actress and singer. It is very protuberant. 

Here it may reasonably be asked why a great endow- 
ment of the organ of Tune is not always accompanied 
by genius for the composition of enchanting music ? For 
this reason, that harmonious combinations of melodious 
tones are merely the channels which the natural instinct 
of some individuals force them to use for the tramission 
of noble, affecting, soul-inspiring, imaginings, and that 

M M 2 



500 TUNE. 

many lovers of music are incapable of such imaginings. 
In the same way another highly gifted person will, by 
the overruling bent of a predominant organ of Language, 
make choice of words as the vehicle for the conveyance 
of his thoughts and feelings to the delight and edification 
of others. And a third, in whom neither Tune nor 
Language predominates, but who is singularly endowed 
with a fine perception of Form aud physical proportion 
as well as manual dexterity and the imitative faculty, 
such a one will seek to transfuse his high thoughts and 
feelings into kindred souls, not in "words that burn " or 
tones that enrapture, but in the almost breathing marble 
or individual canvas. It is to this instinctive diversity of 
animated minds we owe Mozart, Handel, Beethoven in 
music; Homer, Dante, Shakespeare in poetry, Leonardo, 
Michael Angelo, Eaphael, in painting and sculpture; 
Bramante, De Vinci, Wren, Inigo Jones in architecture. 
But there must exist the fountain from which spring 
observant and discriminating powers, profound thought, 
elevated and glowing sentiments, and warm, unselfish, 
sympathising affections, or else the channels of communica- 
tion will be dry and barren. 

It may be well to state that the spirit of music some- 
times out of compassion, as it were, takes her seat in the 
barren soul of idiotcy. Some years ago there was at the 
asylum at Highgate an idiot boy about eleven years of 
age, who could whistle with much sweetness any tune 
which he might have occasionally heard. In him the 
organ of melody was large though the rest of the forehead 
was idiotic. Even birds, which are so low in the scale 
of sagacity, are some of them richly endowed with a 
passion for music. And that this passion is instinctive 
and does not depend for its existence on any external 



TUNE. 501 

stimulus, either of education or example, is clearly proved 
by the fact that in a nest of nightingales or thrushes, the 
male birds only are found to sing, though the female 
sometimes makes a feeble attempt to do so. Nor is it 
possible in any case to bring the crow or jackdaw to sing 
like the thrush or blackbird, or the sparrow to warble 
like the skylark. Will it be asserted that the difference 
of talent lies in the organs of voice ? Certainly the laryna 
or organ of voice in the nightingale is formed for the 
production of a greater variety of rich, full, and melodious 
notes than that of the sparrow, or I believe of any other 
bird. But the construction of the organs of voice is 
similar in the male and female nightingale, and in the 
male and female of every other species of singing bird, 
and yet it is the male bird only that has the gift of song. 
There must be something radically different in their 
physical conformation to account for this. And that 
this difference consists in a marked fulness of the skull 
over the orbit of the eye in the male singing bird, and 
in a comparative deficiency of the same part in the female, 
although in every other respect the forms of their heads are 
almost exactly alike, is a fact of which long and careful 
research into the conformation of the skulls of birds has 
thoroughly convinced me. 

There is no difficulty found in distinguishing the male 
canary from the female by the fulness of the former over 
the orbit of the eye, notwithstanding the smallness of the 
scull. There has never been recorded by the opponents 
of Phrenology a single instance subversive of this uni- 
versal law of nature, namely, that tuneful birds are 
endowed always with a superior development of the part 
of the brain which lies above the orbit of the eye. And, 
moreover, the development is proportioned to the natural 



502 TUNE. 

gift of the songster. Gall says the organ is larger in the 
nightingale than in the goldfinch, and it certainly is 
larger in the song thrush than in the tuneful blackbird. 
And it is larger in the starling than in the Cuckoo, which 
has but two musical notes, and Grail found the organ very 
large in the mocking bird. Other animals cannot be said 
to be at all endowed with the faculty of appreciating 
musical sounds, and in strict accordance with this want 
there is a manifest smallness of the scull above the orbit 
of that part which forms so conspicuous a feature in the 
sculls of singing birds. 

The organ of Tune embraces within its sphere of action 
the faculty of perceiving, remembering, and reproducing 
in new forms the tuneful succession of simple sounds, or 
of a variety of tones sounding in musical concord, accord- 
ing to the measure of its strength. The first of these 
results is called melody, the second harmony. But the 
power of melody may be of a high order, and yet a fine 
appreciation of time, or the pro|)er intervals « in music, 
may be wanting. Some persons can sing and play in 
tune without any instruction, who find it difficult to play 
in concert, from their marking time. On the other 
hand, there are good " timests " who are not gifted with 
a very keen appreciation of melody. An auxiliary faculty 
is required for this, and its organ, which is called 
li Time," lies, as has been already pointed out, by the 
side of Tune. 

The existence and situation of the organ of Tune is 
fully proved both by positive and negative evidence. 
And in addition to the remarkable instances already 
adduced, I would add Purcell, in whose portrait, engraved 
by White, after Closterman, the organ of Tune is re- 
markably protuberant. In a word, every one clistin- 



TUNE. 503 

guished for creative musical genius, is found to be 
endowed with a large development of the external part 
of the forehead, about an inch above the angle of the eye- 
brow. In Eoubillac's fine bust of Handel this part is very 
conspicuous, and, placed by the side of Dr. Johnson's 
admirable bust by Nollekens, there is no one who could 
not at a glance see the vast disparity as to the size of the 
organ of Tune. 

To illustrate the foregoing remarks upon Time and 
Tune it is well to add here that the transverse outlines of 
the foreheads of Crabbe, Coleridge, and Godwin, as may 
be seen in their diagrams, shew a very fine development 
of the organ of Time, but in those of Thomas Moore that 
of Tune is paramount. In the " Girl of genius," whose 
intense intellectual industry caused so high a degree of 
cerebral excitement that she died insane at the age of 
fifteen years, the organs of Time and Tune are exceed- 
ingly large, while they are remarkably small in the 
diagrams of the " Stupid Boy." In all these, except the 
last, the organ of Order was also prominent. 



LANGUAGE. 



To mankind alone, of all living beings, has the Creator 
granted the faculty of communicating the ideas of the 
mind, one to another, by means of articulate oral somids. 
The denial of this marvellous talent to animals was, like 
all other providential enactments, a wise ordination. 
For as the ideas of animals are comprised within very 
narrow bounds, which they are incapable of overstepping, 
they only require, in order to make themselves under- 
stood the power of instinctively using bodily gesticulation 
and inarticulate sounds specially adapted to convey to 
one another an intimation of the wants and desires which 
may happen to be actuating them. This faculty has been 
denominated " Natural Language." 

Man is likewise endowed with it. And by its means 
he is enabled to give the most palpable signification to 
the emotions which may be agitating him. When a man 
is seen strutting along, even where he dreams not of 
being seen by any one, with his head erect and somewhat 
drawn backwards, it needs no words to say he is a proud 
man, since his gait and carriage are the true symbols of 
self-esteem. Need it be told in words that a man is 
angry and bent on fighting, when his eyes flash fiercely 
and his clenched fist is drawn backwards, though his 
tongue denies him utterance. No. For this is the 
natural language of Destructiveness and Combativeness. 



LANGUAGE. 505 

See, on the contrary, the soft, yet gently glowing ex- 
pression, beaming from the eye of the benevolent, when 
ministering comfort to the poor, the sorrowful, and the 
lonely. For instance, in the fine engraving of Fenelon, 
by Audran, this, the natural expression of benevolence, 
is strikingly manifested and heightened by a seraphic 
radiance. How unlike is the countenance of Knox, the 
Scotch reformer, so fierce and defiant, and not unmingled 
with a dash of ferocity. The immense development of 
Combativeness and Destructiveness in his head is quite 
in unison with this expression of countenance. 

But the elementary faculties of the human mind are so 
numerous, and the ideas resulting from their innumerable 
combinations, often so complicated, that this so called 
natural language is totally inadequate to convey any 
notion of them. Hence the necessity of using articulate 
vocal sounds, of which " artificial language" is composed. 
But articulate language, though it is denominated arti- 
ficial, to distinguish it from what may be called gesticular 
and natural, is not a whit less natural than the other. 
And why ? Because it is the offspring of the associated 
action of the highest intellectual and moral qualities upon 
the faculty which perceives, remembers, and with their 
aid invents words, which give the most appropriate and 
eloquent expression to the thoughts of mankind. Articu- 
late language, then, is natural, in the same sense as music 
is natural, for they are, each of them, built up from a 
foundation existing in nature. And this foundation con- 
sists of the organ of Tune in the one, and of the organ 
-of Verbal signs, that are expressive of ideas, in the 
other. 

And as the power of inventing and of using articulate 
sounds or words to express their wants has been denied 



506 LANGUAGE. 

to animals, so is the brain of every animal wanting in the 
particular part of it which is conspicuous in that of man, 
and to which the manifestation of the faculty of spoken 
language is undoubtedly traceable. 

If there were no other mark of distinction (and there 
are many) between the diminutive brains of the ourang 
outang, the chimpansee, and the savage gorilla, and the 
capacious brain of man, with its numerous convolutions, 
many of the most important of which, those of the moral 
and religious sentiments, for example, are entirely want- 
ing in these animals — were this not so, there would still 
be abundant reason to deny the existence of any typical 
relationship, in regard to the progressive development of 
species, between this Ingest order of the monkey tribe 
and the race of man, from the fact of the existence in the 
brain of the latter of a conspicuous convolution, of which 
not the slightest trace exists in the brains of any species 
of the brute creation, nay, not even of those animals 
which men of speculative genius would exalt beyond the 
sphere assigned to them for good by the creator of ally, 
and before which a barrier was placed which the history 
of all time fully, and according to all tangible reason, 
proves they have been, are now, and will for ever be, 
incapable of scaling and surmounting. 

When Dr. Johnson said playfully that what distin- 
guished man from any of the lower animals is the fact 
of his being a cooking animal, there was much of philo- 
sophy in what he said, for animals are, from the scantiness 
of their intellect, incapable of opening a road to improve- 
ment, of seeing fitness, or of devising means for effecting 
a change in the condition of things, so as to render the 
indispensable adaptation of them to their wants more 
agreeable and salutary. But this is of the " earth, earthy," 



LANGUAGE. 507 

when compared with the divine gift of language, which 
is possessed exclusively by the human race. 

The organ of this faculty is bestowed more abundantly 
on some persons than on others, and yet not always in 
proportion to their intellectual superiority. Of this fact 
undeniable evidence will be given by-and-bye. But first 
it will be well to describe here, the position of the organ 
in the brain, and also the external indication of its 
size. 

Let a line be imagined to extend for about an inch and 
a half from above the root of the nose backwards towards 
the centre of the brain, and it will be found to reach a 
projection of bone rising from the base of the scull, called 
" sella turcica," from its likeness to a Turkish saddle. 
On each side of this body, and just where the optic 
nerves are about to enter the bony orbit of the eye, there 
lies a convolution of the brain, in man only, which runs 
from that point transversely in front of the middle lobe 
till it reaches the convolutions which constitute the organs 
of Order and Number, and on its way it blends itself with 
the posterior portions of the convolutions of which the 
organs of the other perceptive faculties are composed. 

What a wise and beautiful arrangement of parts does 
this structural development exhibit. And how striking 
the internal evidence it affords of the position which 
nature's law would be most likely to assign to the organ 
of the only faculty of the mind which is connected, in an 
equal measure, with all the other intellectual powers. 
And the non-existence of this convolution in the brains- 
of all animals is strong presumptive evidence, also, that 
the function attributed to it by Gall is the true one. 

There is another species of testimony which is still 
more palpable and persuasive. It is this, namely, that 



508 LANGUAGE. 

this convolution lias been found to be the only observable 
seat of organic cerebral disease when the symptoms have 
indicated a want of capacity to appreciate the proper 
use of words during the course of a severe febrile affection. 
The story of the Welshman who, when suffering from 
an ailment of this kind, either in Gruy's or in St. Thomas's 
Hospital, forgot the English language which he had been 
in the constant habit of speaking during many years' 
residence in London, and spoke in a strange tongue 
which no one about him could comprehend, until a 
young Welsh milkmaid, attracted by the patient's words, 
declared that he was using the Welsh language. 

I know nothing further concerning this singular case ; 
and therefore it is not brought forward as evidence of the 
truth of the position assigned by phrenologists to the 
organ of Language. But it is valuable as shewing that 
the faculty of language may become deranged while the 
rest of the intellectual faculties are seemingly, at least, in 
a sound condition. To hazard a conjecture in regard to 
this case I would suppose that the intimate structure of 
the part of the brain through which language is communi- 
cated was reduced, during the fever, by the action of the 
blood vessels, to the state in which it was, thirty years 
before, when the man's vocabulary was confined to the 
Welsh language ; and that, consequently, it was incapable 
of remembering anything of the words it had acquired in 
its more recent, but now suspended condition. 

But it is the duty of the advocate, earnest in his con- 
viction of the truth of the cause he supports, to avoid 
conjectural speculation, and especially when his subject is 
built up from the sure foundation of facts, which nature 
renders palpable to anyone who will taken the trouble of 
investiojatino- them. The followinsr is one of these. 



LANGUAGE. 509 

Many years ago, there was brought into the Infirmary 
at Edinburgh, a man who was suffering from some febrile 
affection. He was under the care of the able and excellent 
Dr. William Pultney Alison. In this case a strange 
symptom shewed itself. The patient seemed to under- 
stand what was said to him, but his replies were quite 
unintelligible, because he made use of words which had a 
meaning quite different from what he was apparently 
anxious to convey. The words denoted something which 
had no connexion with what he intended to say. This he 
sometimes made known by gesture ; and then his wants 
were guessed at. This would imply that he could under- 
stand the proper meaning of words, when used by another, 
though he could not recall them himself. 

Here is a case which shews the gradations of memory. 
It is like the state of a person who can recognize a melody 
when it is played or sung by another, but cannot, of his 
own accord, recall it to mind. 

This poor man died. His body was opened and closely 
examined, and its condition commented on, with his 
accustomed care and ability, by Dr. Alison, at the next 
clinical lecture. But what he particularly called our 
attention to, was the want of power in the patient to use 
the proper words to express his thoughts, as well as the 
fact that there appeared not the slightest lesion or injury 
of the eye where Gall placed the organ of Language. 
And he, therefore, concluded that the case was unfavoura- 
ble to the doctrine maintained by Gall. 

Now, here is a great physician and physiologist, and a 
most candid and singularly estimable man, making an impor- 
tant assertion — important — because it was certain to create 
a prejudice in the minds of scientific and accomplished 
young men, which any careful student of Gall's doctrine 



510 LANGUAGE. 

could in a moment contravene. And when lie declared as 
a proof of his assertion that there was purulent matter 
found at the side of the " sella turcica," which extended 
transversely at the posterior inferior part of the anterior 
lobe of the brain, he was not in the least aware that he 
was giving an accurate description of the organ of Lan- 
guage in a state of incurable disorganization, while all 
the other convolutions of the frontal lobe were in a healthy 
state. But as the size of this organ can be measured 
only by the position of the eye in the bony orbit, the 
good doctor was under an erroneous impression as to its 
true position in the brain. 

This case is uncommonly instructive. It clearly shews 
how wrong it would be to place the seat of the organ of 
articulate Language in any one of those cerebral con- 
volutions which give its shape to the human forehead. 
Nor are we justified in doing so, even when the want of 
power to use words proper is coincident with irremediable 
lesion of some of these anterior convolutions. For, since 
upon these undoubtedly depend the faculties of acquiring 
various knowledge of retaining it and of so associating its 
details as to render them auxiliary to the diversified phases 
of the imderstanding, there cannot be a doubt that their 
morbid condition would be followed by such a confused 
conglomeration of ideas, or more surely perhaps by a 
total absence of them, that the faculty of Language would 
be divested of any subject upon which its unhappy 
possessor could use it appropriately, although its own 
integrity might remain unimpaired. 

But when we witness a failure of the faculty of Lan- 
guage, occurring when the convolutions of the anterior 
lobes are still in a healthy condition, while that one which 
runs transversely behind them, and, moreover, in contact 



LANGUAGE. 511 

with them all, is in a diseased state, there is afforded 
as palpable proof as Pathology can yield of the truth of the 
phrenological doctrine respecting the exact local position 
of the organ of Language. 

That the size of the organ can be measured only by the 
degree of prominence of the eye is thus easily explained. 
It is a fact fully proved by the researches of physiologists 
that the bony case, called the cranium or scull, is formed 
subsequently to the brain ; and is, as it were, moulded 
upon it, and takes its shape from it, as the plaster mould 
takes that of the plastic clay, which has been modelled 
into some beauteous form by the creative genius of the 
sculptor. Now, since the convolution, forming the organ 
of Language, lies upon the hindmost part of the thin plate 
of bone which forms the roof of the eye's orbit, and 
which grows upon, or rather under, this convolution, it 
follows, necessarily, that if the convolution be large and 
bulky, the cavity of the orbit will be less spacious and its 
roof less convex than if the same convolution were very 
small. When it is large, therefore, there is less room in 
the orbit or socket for the eye, and consequently the eye 
is more prominent. 

In a state of health, then, a full eye is a sign of a 
capacity for learning or using language with facility, if 
the other intellectual powers support it properly. For, as 
words are but the signs of ideas, they can do but little 
without the aid of the organs through which ideas are 
manifested. But superior talent in the use of words may 
exist without a marked prominence of the eye ; because 
sometimes the organs of the perceptive faculties are so 
finely developed that the eye is considerably overlapped. 
But then there is a depression of the eye, which causes a 
puffy appearance of the under lid, which is a sure 



512 LANGUAGE. 

indication of an adequate organ of Language. Such is not 
the case when the organ is small. 

But when a forehead is finely developed in all its parts, 
save the organ of Language, which is one of comparatively 
moderate size, you will often find a respectable talent 
for expressing thoughts with precision and effect, but 
never with the ease, fluency, and charming, but not 
redundant, copiousness which characterise the speeches 
and the writings of Cicero, of Bolingbroke, and of Burke, 
or which imparted so much persuasiveness to the oratorical 
efforts of Chatham and of Mansfield, of Pitt and of Fox, 
of Erskine and of Curran, of Canning and of Grattan, of 
Plunkett, Brougham, and O'Connell. In all these leading 
men the organ of Language was largely developed. But, 
though they might vie with each other in the copia 
verborum, the characteristics of their oratory were different, 
because these were the natural result of the peculiar 
manner in which the organs of the intellect and of the 
feelings were relatively developed in each of them. In 
the famous orator, Charles Townsend, whom Edmund 
Burke has so highly eulogised, the organ of Language 
was very large, according to the portrait of him by Sir 
Joshua Reynolds. In Milton, Dryden, Pope, it was very 
prominent. Indeed, the organ predominates in all those 
who have devoted themselves to the pursuits of literature 
to the exclusion of every other occupation. In Voltaire, 
for instance, and in Gibbon, and in Hume, the prominence 
of the eyes is a striking characteristic. Such is like- 
wise the case with some men whose minds were constantly 
occupied with public affairs of the greatest importance 
to nations. In Frederick the Great, for instance, the 
love of literary fame was very strong, and the organ 
of Language is very large in the portraits of him. Li 



LANGUAGE. 513 

the great Richelieu, also, it is extremely large. In all 
great talkers this organ is large. But all in whom it is 
large are not great talkers. In William Godwin the 
organ was very large, and though his mind was full, he 
was not at all inclined to put himself forward as a talker. 
Indeed, in his Fleetwood, he takes pains to shew how 
little he valued the gift of great talking. Coleridge, on 
the contrary, was singularly endowed with this power, 
and almost morbidly anxious to display it. An esteemed 
and discriminating friend of my own told me that he 
had heard Coleridge talk in a most eloquent and 
sublime strain, without intermission, from eight o'clock 
in the evening till a very late hour. But to him 
the discourse was more remarkable for extraordinary 
brilliancy and a superb display of poetical and philosophic 
imaginings, clothed in language the most gorgeous that 
could well be conceived, than for the imparting of such 
substantial information as was likely to sink deep into the 
enraptured listener's mind. And though the blaze was 
vivid and continuous it partook more of the character of 
meteoric light or the corruscations of lightning than the 
steady and fixed light of the planets. It dazzled more 
than it enlightened and was surprisingly eloquent rather 
than precisely impressive. Yet there was no weariness 
felt while listening so long to that most eloquent soliloquy. 
Why this disparity between two such eminent literary 
characters ? Why ! Because their intellects were cast in 
very opposite moulds, as were also their dispositions 
(see Plate 1, diag. 2, & Plate 10, diag. 3). Godwin, as 
the shape of his head indicates, was more reserved and 
retiring in his manner, and less hopefully disposed to 
communicate his thoughts in company ; and moreover, he 
was less influenced by temporary applause. Besides, he 

NN 



514 LANGUAGE. 

was, characteristically, more thoughtful and reflective 
than Coleridge ; though he could not cope with him in 
brilliancy and fertility of perceptive power, and in the 
faculty of communicating his thoughts apparently with the 
rapidity of improvisation. In fact, the organs of the 
reflective faculties were dominant in the head of Godwin, 
those of the perceptive in that of Coleridge. Not that 
this great poetical genius was unendowed with good 
reflective organs, and this was shewn whenever he chose 
to exercise them ; but they were not of force sufficient, (at 
least, relatively) to curb his capacious perceptive organs 
in the discharge of their brilliant and ardently sought for 
displays. He was so far carried away that he never once 
reflected that he was monopolizing some portion of time, 
which ought to be awarded to another speaker. 

It is to this cause we are seemingly to attribute Coleridge's 
thoughtless habit of engrossing whole evenings for the 
display of his marvellously eloquent talk : for though fond 
of display, he was neither arrogant nor offensively assuming. 

The illustrious scholar, the powerful and eloquent writer, 
Samuel Johnson, was endowed with a very large organ of 
Language. He too, like Coleridge, was a great talker and 
the centre of attraction. But Johnson loved argumentative 
conversation. It was his glory to have the vivid light of 
his reason and his eloquence elicited by collision with the 
opinions of other thinkers, to whom he usually listened 
attentively, if not patiently. Coleridge, on the contrary, 
would not speak at all, it is said, if others ventured to share 
in the conversation. 

On phrenological principles these striking discrepancies 
are easily accounted for. In Johnson the organs of the 
reflective faculties were, relatively to those of the perceptions, 
larger than they were in Coleridge ; and Causality especially. 



LANGUAGE. 515 

Johnson was, therefore, more concise, concentrated, and 
argumentative. There was a diffuseness, sometimes degene- 
rating into vagueness, as some thought, in the original and 
brilliant thoughts which were enshrined in the glowing 
and poetically beautiful language of Coleridge. He hurried 
on unceasingly, and, as it were, instinctively, without 
sufficiently reflecting upon the goal to which the brilliant 
light of his superb imagination was likely to lead him. 
At least he did not always make the path clear to others 
(see Plates 9 and 10). 

In Edmund Burke, also, as has been already noticed, 
the organ of Language is very prominent. And, as his 
mask, taken during life, clearly shews, his full expanded 
forehead possessed, in an eminent measure, all the dominant 
features of the foreheads of Godwin and Coleridge. He 
was as eloquent and as sublimely descriptive as Coleridge ; 
but he was, moreover, as Johnson said, a man whom you 
would look upon as the wisest man you ever saw, had you 
only taken shelter with him under a gateway from a 
shower of rain, and heard him talk for five minutes. And, 
on another occasion, the same great judge and fastidious 
critic said, " I don't wonder at Burke's being the first man 
in the House of Commons, for he is the first man every- 
where." Not even excepting in thought, as it would 
seem, the famous club of which he was himself the most 
prominent member. 

It was the harmonious blending of all the intellectual 
organs in the finely symmetrised and capacious forehead of 
Edmund Burke united with an uncommon amount of those 
of the noblest sentiments of man's nature, and heightened 
into excessive beauty and intensity through a vast develop- 
ment of the organ of Ideality, or the sense of the beautiful 
and the perfect — it was the union of all these noble qualities 

N N 2 



516 LANGUAGE. 

with moral courage of the most lofty kind, which raised 
Burke almost to the level of Bacon in intellectual power, 
and in action far above him in moral fortitude and energy- 
It is hoped that these remarks will not be deemed digres- 
sive, for as language is the power which acts in unison 
with all the rest, it is not out of place to say a word or two< 
on the mutual influence of the faculties. 

Again, do we not find great intellects that are pro- 
verbially or, at least, historically, deficient in ability to 
master the refinements of Language ? There have, indeed,, 
been men of great genius who were utterly incapable of 
becoming good linguists, or of giving eloquent expression 
to their thoughts. Such men are instinctively averse to 
devote their time to the careful study of Language. And 
the immediate cause of this peculiar incapacity is owing, in 
such cases, to a scanty development of the organ of Lan- 
guage. John Hunter, Canova, and John Bennie, each a 
genius of the first class in his own calling, had very little 
capacity for Languages. And in perfect accordance with 
the phrenological law, so often announced, was the deve- 
lopment of the organ, of Language in each of them. 

There used to be a plaster cast of the face of Hunter in 
the Museum of the College of Surgeons, which was con- 
spicuous for the smallness of this organ ; and in the 
posthumous cast of Canova the same characteristic is 
strikingly evident. In Chantrey's fine bust of John 
Bennie, also, a like relative deficiency of the same organ 
is conspicuous. 

Should the emaciation of Canova be considered as a 
cause sufficient to account for the hollowness of the eye, 
it is only necessary to compare his cast with that of 
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who, at the time of his death, 
was equally emaciated, and the prominence of the eye in 



LANGUAGE. 517 

Sheridan will satisfy the most obstinate objector. In the 
mask of Charles James Fox, taken after death, when his 
face was remarkably attenuated, the organ of Language 
is excessively developed ; and it was even larger in the 
mask of Chatham after death, though his face, also, was 
considerably emaciated. 

When the illustrious naturalist and traveller Alexander 
Von Humboldt was giving an account of the wonderful 
capacity, early displayed by his elder brother William in 
the acquisition of knowledge, he was mindful of the great 
exertion he himself had to use in striving to keep up to 
him, while his brother seemed to learn everything without 
the least trouble, and seemingly without effort. 

At that time, during the period of education, it is 
likely that these distinguished brothers, like other students, 
derived the principle part, at least, of their knowledge 
through the medium of words. And as the development 
of the organ of Language was far greater in William 
than in Alexander, it follows, though their perceptive 
powers might be nearly on a par, that the former could 
learn with greater facility and rapidity than the latter. 

In the head of Cobbett the organ of Language was 
neither absolutely nor relatively a prominent part, though 
it was fairly and adequately developed. As his forehead 
indicates, he had an ardent thirst for substantial know- 
ledge, and superior capacity for acquiring it. He was 
from the same cause naturally desirous of communicating 
it to others. But as that must be done through the use of 
language, he laboured, in the face of great obstacles, to 
gain the power of writing and of speaking his own 
language with propriety. These efforts enabled him, in 
subsequent years, to compose an excellent Grammar of the 
English lano-uao-e. But, seeing the general use made of 



518 LANGUAGE. 

the French language, he set about learning that with his 
instinctive energy ; until, in a surprisingly short time, he 
was capable of writing an English Grammar in the French 
language to teach French people English. 

It was for its great practical usefulness that Cobbett 
was induced to exert his talents in this way, and not 
because he was constitutionally a philologist. For he 
loved language only as it formed the means of communi- 
cating useful knowledge. His utter contempt of the 
ancient languages, so strongly expressed in his writings, 
is a certain proof of this. In his style of writing all 
was vigour, perspicuity, and exactness. Like Swift he was 
eminently copious and clear in the enunciation of all the facts 
upon which his opinions were founded ; but though perhaps 
as convincing, his language was less flowing and abundant 
than that of the Dean. And in strict accordance witk 
this it is remarkable that although the form of the fore- 
head in each of them was, in an eminent degree,, 
indicative of the presence of political and historical 
tendencies, which amounted to the intensity of overruling 
instincts, yet the organ of Language was much larger in 
Swift. Cobbett was abundantly fluent in his enunciation 
of facts and passing events, and would by some be deemed 
redundant in that respect ; but as to his style of language 
there was a striking absence of redundacy or diffuseness. 
His sentences were sometimes very long, but there was 
no verboseness. They were composed of clauses relating 
to facts which illustrated and verified, as he thought, the 
point he wished to establish. Here it is instructive to 
add that Individuality and Eventuality were strikingly 
developed in the forehead of that remarkable man. 

But if Cobbett made one or two languages a special 
study, with the view of communicating useful knowledge,. 



LANGUAGE. 519 

whether of a public or domestic nature, there was once 
in this country another self-taught man, who became 
master of nearly twenty languages. This was Richard 
Robert Jones, the poor Welsh sawyer, whom the late 
benevolent and enlightened Mr. Roscoe of Liverpool 
humanely took under his charge, in order to keep him 
from want, for this extraordinary linguist was neglect- 
ful of providing himself with the common necessaries of 
life. His whole thoughts were engrossed in the study 
of words and their etymology. He cared little or nothing 
for the uses to which they were applicable. For on being 
once asked what Andromache meant, he answered, "a 
fight of men," which is the literal English of the Greek 
words Andrdn mache. He only thought of it as a deriva- 
tive term, and seemed to be forgetful of the fact that it 
was the name of the beloved wife of Hector, the greatest 
of the Trojan heroes. 

The forehead of this helpless poor man was large and 
generally symmetrical. But the organs of Individuality 
and Eventuality were of only moderate size, while that 
of Language was very large. Yet his neglect of his own 
well-being and comfort did not proceed from the utter 
incapacity of those organs, if they had been assiduously 
cultivated, but because the dominant force and instinctive 
activity of the organ of Language riveted his whole 
attention to that pursuit, which was alone calculated to 
gratify its insatiable longings. Such, with regard to the 
faculty of arithmetical calculation, was, as we have already 
seen, the case with Jedediah Buxton. 

But yet it is true that there are many negroes, 
possessed of prominent eyes, who are still unendowed 
with even moderate capability for learning language or for 
using it with propriety. Nevertheless, such negroes are 



520 LANGUAGE. 

always fond of talking. But their style of speaking is 
very often ludicrously incorrect, owing to the want of a 
harmonious development and blending of the organs of 
the perceptive and reflective faculties, as well as to the 
absence of an adequate equipoise of the organs of those 
powers, which are indispensable to the proper arranging 
and methodizing of their ideas. It is the relative de- 
ficiency of those last-mentioned parts of the negro's fore- 
head which renders his large organ of Language of 
inferior value; and it also accounts, according to what has 
been pointed out in the essays on Time and Order, for 
the general deficiency of that race of men in habitual 
industry, and their proneness to give way to indolent or 
desultory habits. Of course there have been some re- 
markable exceptions to this rule. But, nevertheless, the 
rule is, all over the world, notorious as a general one. 

It is this want of harmony in the development of the 
organs which renders it difficult to teach some negroes, 
who are otherwise keenly observant, to spell and read 
with facility. It is to this confusion of ideas that their 
want of presence of mind in unusual instances of danger 
is attributable, and not always to absence of personal 
courage. 

Sometimes water on the brain causes the eyes to 
protrude. But this, being the result of disease, affords 
no sure criterion for pronouncing an opinion as to the 
extent of the organ of Language in such a case. This 
protuberance is also of doubtful import in some Cretins. 
For, from examinations that I have had opportunities of 
making of casts of Cretin sculls, it was obvious that 
the eye during life must have been very prominent. But 
this was caused not by a great development of the con- 
volution which is the organ of Language, but by the 



LANGUAGE. 521 

shallowness of the orbit, caused by the want of fulness 
of the perceptive organs, and the great size of the middle 
or lateral lobe of the brain which curtailed the depth or 
cavity of the orbit. 

To avoid exposing Phrenology to misapprehension it 
is necessary to hint at these precautions. But there can 
be no difficulty, after study and practice, in forming a just 
estimate of the absolute and relative size of the organ of 
Language, either in the scull or the living head. 

In the oral or written discourses of persons whose 
intellectual organs generally, both perceptive and reflective, 
but especially the latter, are only moderately developed, 
while that of Language is very large, there will always 
be found more volubility and redundant verboseness than 
substantial knowledge. Even that great poet and most 
minute and accurate describer of the conduct of men, 
Crabbe, has in the opinion of some critics, occasionally 
degenerated into verboseness, though certainly the subject- 
matter of his theme is never enveloped in a cloud of words. 
A phrenologist would account for this by shewing in the 
cast of his head from nature that the organ of Language 
is very prominent, and forms a conspicuous feature 
beneath his finely-developed forehead, which is strikingly 
indicative of rare powers of observation as well as of 
superior capacity for arranging them perspicuously (see 
Plate 2). 

Sir Walter Scott was endowed with a large organ of 
Language, and his memory of words was very powerful. 
Hogg, the Ettriek shepherd, was on a fishing excursion 
near the Tweed with Sir Walter and one or two others, 
when suddenly their peat ceased to burn. And while a 
messenger was sent to a place two miles off for another 
fiery peat to illumine the pitchy darkness of an evening 



522 LANGUAGE. 

in January, Sir Walter called upon Hogg to sing his 
ballad of " Gilman's Cleutch." Hogg immediately began 
to recite it, but lie stuck fast, as he says, at the ninth- 
stanza. Upon this Sir Walter commenced the ballad, 
and without making a single mistake repeated the eighty- 
eight stanzas of which it consists. This astonished Hogg, 
who knew that Sir Walter had only heard it once from 
himself three years before, and could not have heard or 
seen it a second time, as the ballad had not, up to that 
moment, been committed to manuscript. On the shep- 
herd's testifying his astonishment at this extraordinary 
display of memory, Sir Walter said " he had been out 
with a pleasure party as far as the opening of the Firth 
of Forth, and to amuse the company he had recited both 
that ballad and one of Southey's, 'the Abbot of Aber- 
brothock,' both of which ballads he had only heard once 
from their respective authors, and he believed he recited 
them both without misplacing a word." 

The great power possessed by Sir Walter Scott of 
arranging his ideas, and of bringing them rapidly into 
harmonious action, was eminently calculated to strengthen 
and support his organ of Language for the performance 
of such an extraordinary effort of verbal memory as the 
one just narrated. But to shew that the organ of Lan- 
guage is the main source of this power (and it is certainly 
the only one that can take any cognizance of mere 
words), I will mention the singular case of Jack Fletcher, 
the famous fool of Wargrove, in Berkshire. There is an 
engraving of this poor man, which was published in 1735, 
from an original drawing in the possession of the lady 
whose account of him is given at the foot of the print. 
Mrs. Berkley, the granddaughter of the Rev. Henry 
Frinsham, " who was poor Jack's best friend," says, " Jack 



LANGUAGE. 523 

Fletcher was perhaps as extraordinary a being as ever 
nature formed. One of the many instances of the 
Almighty's will to puzzle if not convince sceptics. He 
was born at Wargrove, a village in Berkshire, on the 
banks of the Thames. It soon appeared that he could 
not be made to earn a livelihood by any handicraft tracle y 
as a husbandman, or as a keeper of sheep. He was 
frequently employed to go on errands, which he performed 
punctually. . . . His favourite amusement was very 
innocently taken on the Sabbath day, his delight being to 
go to some distant church to hear a variety of preachers. 
And one of the traits in his wonderful mind was his 
astonishing power of taking off the preachers, which he 
did so admirably that, if in the next room, one might 

have ventured to swear that the rector or vicar of 

was actually preaching there, and this not confined to 
one or two, but more than half a score. That weak 
persons," continues Mrs. Berkley, " have sometimes 
strong memories is a well-known fact, witness the late 
Mr. Pitt, of Binfield, in Windsor Forest, commonly called 
Billy Pitt, a man of vast fortune, very charitable to the 
poor, yet very nearly an idiot. He had very large goggle 
eyes, without the least meaning in them. His mouth 
always open." As a proof of Mr. Pitt's weakness of 
mind the lady says — " He one day insisted on his upper 
gardener setting his, Mr. Pitt's, watch by the dial. It 
was in vain that the man assured him that the sun had 
gone off two hours. He persisted and the servant obeyed. 
The present premier (Chatham) is a relation of his." 
" Jack," says the narrator, " had also some judgment, 
for he treated ladies with respect, always calling them 
Mrs., Madam, or My Lady, while he constantly called 
their husbands and sons by their Christian names. . . . 



524 LANGUAGE. 

He generally came once a week to my father's, who used 
to say, i "Well, Jack, where were you last Sunday ? ' 
' Why, Harry, I went to hear old Tom Brown at Bray, 
or Mat Tate, or Will Waterson.' ' Well, what was the 
sermon? ' He would then begin and preach half of it." 
Then follow some interesting and aifecting incidents 
which, although they do not directly appertain to the 
organ of Language, are, nevertheless, valuable in shewing 
that poor Jack was not altogether divested of shrewdness 
and some degree of reflection. It happened about this 
time that Jack attended the funeral of a gentleman who 
was in the habit of playing nasty practical jokes upon 
this poor creature, and when the service was ended, Jack 
approached the grave, and shaking his head, thus began — 

61 Ah, poor Mr. , thee has made a fool of poor Jack. 

I wish thee mayest not now be a greater fool than ever 
thee hast made of him." One day Jack said something 
for which this lady's grandfather mildly reproved him, 
saying, " Oh, fie, Jack, you should not say so ! God 
will be angry with you." He looked very grave, and 
said in a very melancholy tone of voice, " I thought God 
did not take any notice of fools." 

The fact that this " Wargrove Fool " being engaged in 
carrying messages is a proof that he must have possessed 
the faculty of remembering incidents. And the organ of 
Eventuality, upon which this talent depends, was rather 
fully developed in him. But, the forehead is very narrow ; 
and the skull, as a whole, appears small; so far as the 
slouched hat he wore will admit of a judgment being 
formed in that respect. But it is his organ of Language 
and the elementary faculty of remembering words which 
principally demands attention here. And certainly the 
remarkable fullness of his eyes is indicative of the presence 
of a very large organ of the memory of words. 



LANGUAGE. 525 

Here then, is a poor man, who was welcome to the hall 
or kitchen of every gentleman and farmer in the country, 
for miles around, and plenteously fed by them, because he 
was mentally incapable of providing in any way for his 
own sustenance ; but who, notwithstanding his imbecility, 
possessed the uncommon faculty of remembering a long 
discourse and of repeating it word for word. Can there be 
a more decided proof of anything than this case exhibits 
of the existence of a primitive independent faculty of 
perceiving and remembering words? Nor can there be 
anything more clear than the evidence which the portrait 
of the Wargrove Fool affords of the coincidence between 
the talent for remembering words and a remarkable protu- 
berance of the eyes. 

Mr. Pitt, of Binfleld, was, as we have seen, another, and 
almost a similar instance of the strength of the memory in 
regard to the faculty of words ; and he is described as 
having large goggle eyes. His great relative, Chatham, 
had also very prominent eyes. But as they were, in his 
case, surmounted by a forehead of remarkable symmetry, 
though of moderate dimensions, the scope of the faculty 
was not confined to the mere memory of words : but 
served to render him one of the most eloquent of orators. 
The " goggle eyes " of Mr. Pitt, of Binfield, calls to mind 
the epithet Boopis (ox-eyed) applied by Homer, three 
thousand years ago, to Juno, the queen of the Olympian 
Jupiter, whose patience was often put to a severe test by 
her unseasonable talkativeness. Was Homer, then, aware 
of the fact that great talkers have prominent eyes ? It may 
not have escaped his wonderful powers of observation. 

Words, then, which are merely the signs of ideas, are 
the result of the presence of a special organ, which is to 
be found only in the brain of man. And this organ is 



526 LANGUAGE. 

capable of being discriminated in all its gradations of 
size, through the position of the eye in the orbit. For 
instance, from its sunken state in the absolutely wordless, 
indocile Peter, the wild boy, to its great prominence in 
the Wargrove fool, who was so garrulous, and so remark- 
able for his astonishing memory of words, or to its great 
size in Jones, the helpless Welshman, who had acquired, 
without assistance, a knowledge of many languages. And 
who, in his latter days, gave his whole attention to the 
compilation of a polyglot dictionary. Or let a survey 
be taken of its relative development in John Hunter, 
Canova, and John Bennie, in Milton, Dryden, Voltaire, 
and Samuel Johnson, and there will be no difficulty in 
pointing out amongst these the men whose intellectual 
instincts prompted them to use words as the exponents of 
their ideas, as well as those who, naturally, chose other 
channels for communicating the creations of their genius, 
because their inward monitor Consciousness early informed 
them through its organ — Eventuality — that they were not 
gifted with a command of words. 

But it may be objected by some, who prefer to take 
conjectural opinions for their guidance, rather than to 
trouble themselves with a strict investigation of nature's 
laws, which can only be done by means of a knowledge 
of the facts, which she is constantly and unchangeably 
presenting, that the philosopher, Condillac, and others 
were of opinion that without language there would be 
no ideas. And, therefore, they are indisposed to ac- 
quiesce in Grail's views respecting the organ of Language. 
Surely a few facts will serve to refute so groundless a 
theory as this, notwithstanding the superior genius of its 
propounder. 

But what availeth lofty intellectual attributes, if they 



LANGUAGE. 527 

tire employed in building castles in the air, or in con- 
structing their temples of philosophy upon foundations of 
shifting sand. Splendid for awhile to look at, but utterly 
unsafe to inhabit. The possessors of such noble qualities 



a 



seem " (to use the words of Bacon) " to have followed 
only probable reasoning, and are hurried in a continual 
whirl of arguments, till by an indiscriminate licence of 
inquiry, they have enervated the strictness of investiga- 
tion. But no one has been found of a disposition to dwell 
sufficiently on things themselves and experience." And 
again he says, " For all who before us have applied them- 
selves to the discovery of the arts, after casting their eyes 
awhile upon things, instances, and experience, have 
straightway invoked, as it were, some spirits of their 
own to disclose their oracles, as if invention were nothing 
but a species of thought." 

Such a course is that which has been pursued in regard 
to it by all those who have set their faces against the 
reception of Gall's great and eminently valuable dis- 
covery. 

And now let us see whether a few simple instances, 
already noticed, are not conclusive evidence of the pal- 
pable error, to which Condillac committed himself, when 
lie said that without language there would be no ideas. 

The Wargrove fool, as we have seen, could call to mind 
at a given moment a greater number of words in the 
order in which they were spoken than some of our greatest 
philosophers are capable of doing. But very few were 
the distinct ideas which they conveyed to his mind. Poor 
Jones, the surprising linguist, though no fool, seemed to 
have studied languages in a mechanical spirit only, for 
he derived but few ideas from his critical knowledge 
of them. Mr. Pitt, of Binfield, is another instance of the 



528 LANGUAGE. 

absence of the ability to form or to acquire rational ideas 
respecting even ordinary things although he possessed a 
great memory of words. His insisting on his gardener's 
setting his watch by the sun-dial two hours after the 
sun had gone down is a striking illustration of that fact. 
But the case of James Mitchell, of Nairn, in Scotland, as 
narrated by Spurzheim, is calculated completely to over- 
turn Condillac's hypothesis. This lad was born deaf and 
blind. But though he was thus rendered incapable of 
being influenced in the slightest degree by signs addressed 
to hearing and to sight, yet he manifested clear perceptive 
and reflective faculties as well as strong social affections 
and moral emotions. Spurzheim finishes his minute 
history of the habits and dispositions of this remarkable 
youth in the following words. " I shall finish what I 
have to say of this singular being, by speaking of his 
sense of property. One day he meets on the road a man 
mounted on the horse which had been bought of his 
mother some weeks previous. Mitchell according to his 
custom touches the horse, appears to recognise him 
instantly, and makes a sign to the rider to dismount. 
The latter, in order to observe his intention, obeys, and 
sees with surprise that Mitchell leads the horse to his 
mother's stable, takes off his saddle and bridle, gives him 
oats to eat, retires, shuts the door and puts the key in 
his pocket." 

Can proof more thoroughly conclusive be brought 
forward of the truth of anything than that which these 
singular cases afford of the existence of innate dispositions 
and talents, and of the inadequacy of the external senses and 
experience either to originate or to account for them ? 

But if even fools, with very prominent eyes, are found 
to possess a powerful capacity for remembering words, 



LANGUAGE. 529 

it is also true that fools, with very sunken eyes, are 
incapable of remembering words or of correctly applying 
them. A case of this kind came under my own notice 
when I was a mere youth, yet notwithstanding the length 
of time that has since elapsed, I remember well the 
large head, with forehead projecting at the top, and 
flattened comparatively across the brows, and the small 
eyes, almost hidden in the posterior recesses of the orbits, 
of a fool named Pather, or Peter, who wandered about 
from one country house to another in the neighbourhood 
of Tuam, county of •Gralway, to gain food and shelter. 
He was not altogether destitute of ideas, and he had some 
glimpses of reflection. But he had little or no power of 
calling the things most familiar to his own thoughts by 
their proper names. His favourite tobacco, for instance, 
he would call by some other term, and a halfpenny, which 
he was sure to beg, he called by a strange name. The 
terms, master and mistress, he knew in his native Irish, 
but though he could be brought to pronounce them with 
tolerable correctness, he would, next moment fall into 
his habitual and, to a stranger, unintelligible mode of 
articulating them. He never uttered the proper name of 
anyone. But he would name a man, upon seeing him 
do something remarkable, according to the nature of 
the act. For instance, having one day seen a doctor 
bleed a poor man, he ever after called the doctor by a 
name which, translated into English, is "blood out." 
He had sense enough to know that some persons were 
nearly related to each other. This poor creature never 
spoke, except when he wanted something, and then used 
not the proper name of the thing, but more commonly, 
as I have before said, he adapted some fantastic inappro- 
priate term of his own. 

o o 



530 LANGUAGE. 

Another great want of the faculty of language, 
accompanied by remarkable deficiency of its organ 
occurred in the instance of Peter the Wild Boy, of 
whom there remains a very good whole length mezzotint 
engraving. This poor creature, of whom Lord Monboddo 
gives a circumstantial account, was never known to utter 
a word, except Peter and King George (by whom he was 
brought from Hanover, where he was found in the woods), 
notwithstanding his having been sent to school by the 
king, who also allowed a pension for his maintenance. 
But though the organ of Language was not strong enough 
to suggest words, it was capable of perceiving their import 
when spoken by his attendant ; for on being asked to sing 
Nancy Dawson, he did sing it. He had the faculty of 
percieving the meaning of a few ordinary words, but he 
seemed not to have the power of reproducing them. In 
addition to his small organ of Language it is necessary to 
remark that the reflective organs are, according to his 
portrait, extremely narrow, and retreat suddenly from 
the brow. 

The fact of this idiotic man being able to pronounce 
correctly his own name and that of the king, his bene- 
factor, is a proof that his inability to speak was not owing 
to a faulty construction of the organs of voice. Are 
we not justified then, according to analogy and experience, 
in supposing that his inability to speak had its source 
in a very deficient organ of Language and a striking 
smallness of the organs of the intellectual faculties ? But, 
his portrait displays a fuller development of the organ of 
Tune; and that accords with his very slender capacity 
for singing. 

Although the organ of Language, as it is denominated, 
must be deemed to be the only repository of words, yet 



LANGUAGE. 531 

It would be an error to suppose that it alone possesses the 
capacity for applying them, as the signs of things, with 
any inherent discrimination of its own. No, it is to the 
other intellectual faculties, when acting in combination 
with that of language, that this mighty human privilege 
laelongs. In the mutual commerce of ideas and words it 
is the perceptive and reflective organs make the demand, 
while the supply is accorded by the organ of articulate 
language. And the demand will be in proportion to the 
energy and general fertility of the intellectual faculties. 
But this demand will be responded to more or less 
readily according to the development of the organ of 
supply. And, should its store be narrow and scantily 
furnished, there will be but little instinctive sympathy 
between the organ of Language and the other intellectual 
organs. There will, therefore, only be a faint desire to 
choose words as the communicators of ideas ; and then 
merely through the force of necessity. But, when the 
organ of Language is very large, it forces its services 
upon the other faculties by its own instinctive vigour and 
love of action, and would seem to stimulate them, in its 
turn, to increased efforts. So great indeed is the power 
of words that they sometimes convey a vivid impression 
of the mental picture almost before the appropriate 
faculties have been brought thoroughly to bear upon it. 

Words, then, are manifestations of one of the elemen- 
tary faculties of the human mind in a state of action. 
And there is, it is obvious, abundant evidence, of an in- 
controvertible nature, both in health and disease, to prove 
the true seat and external symbol of its organ. And can 
anything be more exquisitely appropriate than the con- 
tiguousness of this with every one of the other perceptive 
organs. For, since words are but the articulate signs of 

O O 2 



532 LANGUAGE. 

ideas, it seemed necessary to place their organ in contact 
with each and all of the other intellectual ones. And, as 
every human being, in a rational state of mind, is pos- 
sessed of the same number of faculties, so do we find that 
all languages are composed of " parts of speech," which 
are identical both in number and in kind. And, as the 
mind gradually awakes from the sleep of infancy, so do its 
faculties acquire, progressively, a knowledge of the class 
of words which are specially adapted to their elucidation, 
and which were in the beginning the produce of the 
instinctive workings of these faculties. 

Physical objects first arrest the attention of children, 
and their first words are nouns substantive. Such is the 
language of isolated Individuality. Then come nouns 
adjective with respect to the physical qualities of things, 
such as green or yellow, large or small, heavy or light. 
The organs of these faculties are the first to become 
active. And, in that season of life, nouns and their 
adjectives are the only words young children are capable 
of using. They do not yet comprehend the use of the 
definite and indefinite articles, because these imply in- 
creased power of perceiving ideas of relation, which 
depend upon the action of the organ of Comparison. To 
understand the adjectives which denote moral attributes, 
such as good and bad, happy and miserable, requires a 
greater effort still of this reflective organ of Comparison, 
which is rather later in assuming its functions than those 
above named, and consequently the terms expressive of 
them are not so early understood. The meaning of verbs is 
not appreciated until another set of organs become active, 
especially Eventuality, Comparison, and Time. 

Eventuality takes notice of the action, change of con- 
dition, or state of being of anything, and calls upon the 



LANGUAGE. 533 

faculty of Language to supply a word expressive of that 
fact. That word is denominated a verb. It may be in 
either an active or a passive state. Here Comparison 
comes into play, and to estimate its changes of mood and 
tense the organ of Time is absolutely necessary. In 
theory such an auxiliary would seem to be indispensable, 
but, when we come to consider the results of long tried 
experience, there can be no doubt as to the invariable 
fact that young persons who are but poorly furnished 
with the organ of Time have always the greatest difficulty 
in understanding the true nature and changes of verbs. 
And their trouble is enhanced by a scanty development 
of the organ of Order. While a full development of both 
facilitate their progress in the study of grammar. The 
necessity for using pronouns is understood at a more 
advanced period of childhood, for there is a superior 
effort of Comparison required to understand the use of 
pronouns than that of adjectives, since one little word of 
that class is made to represent an innumerable variety of 
nouns. And, with respect to adjectives, how clearly do 
we perceive the increase of complicated action in the 
intellectual faculties as we advance from those which 
designate the qualities of physical objects to participal 
adjectives. For instance, to understand the appellation 
"tall man" does not demand the simultaneous action of 
rso many intellectual faculties as are engaged in the 
comprehension of the phrase " dying man." 

In all languages the "parts of speech" are unchange- 
able, because they are the direct emanation from intel- 
lectual faculties which are intrinsically the same in all 
mankind. But the forms of these parts of speech differ 
much in different nations, owing to the predominance 
■of the perceptive or reflective powers. What for instance, 



534 LANGUAGE. 

has caused the absence of the neuter gender in the French, 
language ? What but a greater tendency in the national 
mind to individualize than to imbue their language with 
a generalizing spirit. And again, in the conjugational 
changes of verbs the same peculiarity of intellectual 
constitution is manifest, as well as in the giving of names 
which have no radical connection with each other, to 
things, the uses of which are analagous, but Avhich 
nevertheless have a distinct individuality of their own. 
As, for instance, couteau for table-knife, and caniffe for 
pen-knife. How simple in these respects is the spirit of 
the English language as contrasted with the French. 
The great disparity between the German and French 
languages is accounted for by Spurzheim in the predomi- 
nance of the organ of Individuality in the French head 
and of that of Comparison in the German. 

If from nations we turn to individuals we shall find 
the same law to prevail. " Cest style est Vhomme m&me,' 1 * 
says the eloquent Buffon. But, though this fact struck 
the acute mind of the great naturalist, he was in the 
dark as to the immediate cause of it. To Phrenology 
alone the credit is due of having rendered the cause 
apparent by shewing the physical conditions upon which 
its existence depends. For instance, no two heads could 
be more unlike than those of Edmund Burke and William 
Cobbett, and surely in their style of thinking and of 
writing no two great writers could be more opposite. 

Burke, with his superior organ of Causality, always 
striving to reach the principles of things by a minute com- 
parison of the facts connected with the case ; Cobbett, 
desirous only of seeing effects, never troubled himself about 
the cause, provided the effect was, to his mind, salutary. 
How well this disparity is accounted for by the great size 



LANGUAGE. 535 

of the organ of Eventuality in Cobbett, as compared with 
his moderate organ of Causality. While in Burke there 
is a fine development of both organs. And again, Cobbett, 
with his scantily developed organ of Ideality, could find 
little pleasure in the many passages of Burke's writings 
and speeches, which abound in images, so full of poetic 
sublimity and beauty, and clothed in words the most 
appropriate and vividly eloquent, that they remain as a 
monument unsurpassed in grandeur by any writer of any 
place or of any time. The source of this characteristic of 
his style is to be found in his very large organ of Ideality. 
Then there was that ie Sensibility of principle, that chastity 
of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired 
courage, while it mitigated ferocity," in Burke's nature, 
which spread a moral charm around all that he has written. 
These two great writers are marked illustrations of the 
saying of Buffon, u Cest style est Vhomme mime." The 
forehead of William Godwin, in its general form bore some 
resemblance to that of Burke, and there was in him, also, 
the disposition and the power of eloquently searching after 
causes, although he was more inclined to indulge in 
casuistical speculations than Burke's ; and he was far 
less practical owing to the comparative inferiority of 
Individuality and Eventuality. The great disparity be- 
tween the styles of Cobbett and Godwin is, also, clearly 
accounted for by the remarkable want of resemblance in 
the form of their foreheads and, indeed, of their heads 
altogether. 

It is certain, then, that words are but the signs of ideas, 
and that these are the result of the action of the intellectual 
faculties upon phenomena, which come from the external 
world, as well as upon those which arise in the inner world 
of our own minds. But words in their turn assist in the 



536 LANGUAGE. 

forming of ideas and in raising images in the mind, 
sometimes as vivid as if the images were real. 

But words, nevertheless, are not simply an emanation 
from the faculties that form ideas. They possess an 
elementary vitality of their own, that inheres in an organ 
of the brain which is quite distinct in its position and 
function from every other organ. 

So many remarkable instances, occurring both in health 
and sickness, have been already given in confirmation of 
the special organ of Language, that it would be tedious to 
name a small portion of the vast catalogue of illustrative 
facts, which have come under my own notice, of the 
invariable coincidence between the talent which supplies 
mankind with words and the position of the eye in the 
orbit. Yet there occurs to me, now, a contrast, which it 
is instructive to notice. There is a fine bust by Houdon of 
Buffon, and a beautiful engraving of him by the famous 
Houbracken. In both the organ of Language is extremely 
large. In the mask from nature of John Hunter, and in 
Sharp's fine engraving of him, from his portrait by 
Reynolds, the same organ is small. In both there is a 
fine development of the intellectual organs. But, though 
Buffon was, perhaps, endowed with equal capacity for 
minute research into details, he would scarcely evince the 
same persevering industry, in regard to such pursuits, that 
so uniquely characterized Hunter, because the predominance 
of the organs of Ideality and Language in his head would 
tend to withdraw his attention from the drudgery of ana- 
tomical dissections and dry physiological experiments, 
in order to display his marvellous eloquence in des- 
cribing the wonders of creation. To judge by the mask 
and portrait of Hunter, neither Ideality nor Language had 
power sufficient to withdraw his mind for a moment from 



LANGUAGE. 537 

the contemplation of anatomical subjects in their minutest 
details, until he had made himself acquainted with their 
properties and causes. Cuvier had the assiduous perse- 
verance of Hunter, together with some of Buffon's literary 
ability. So far he had the advantage of Hunter in versa- 
tility ; and the source of this superiority, as a writer, may 
be traced, in his busts and portraits, to the organs of 
Language and Ideality, which are in him far superior in 
development to the same organs in Hunter. It should be 
noted that the organ of Causality is larger in Hunter than 
it is in Buffon, and much more characteristic. 

There is not the least doubt that the faculty of Language 
or the sense of words has its organ at the back of the 
anterior lobe of the brain ; and that the size of the organ 
may with certainty be estimated by observing the position 
of the eye in the orbit. And that the spirit of a Language 
is not the emanation of this organ solely, or of any part of 
it, is equally certain, although Grail himself conjectured 
that, probably, the knowledge of words and the spirit of 
Language were both of them elementary attributes of this 
single organ. 



COMPAEISON-SENSB OF ANALOGY. 



The organs of those perceptive powers, which acquire a 
knowledge of the qualities of external objects, are capable 
of comparing peculiarities in such qualities, as come 
within the sphere of their own isolated function. Colour, 
for instance, can distinguish, through an inherent power 
of its own, between the beauteous hues of the blushing 
rose and the dingy stock upon which it is grafted. Tune 
has within itself the faculty of comparing the discordant 
notes of a rude oaten pipe with those which issue from 
a finely constructed hautboy, when played upon by a 
master. The sense of Form could compare, and by 
comparing, appreciate the difference between the deformity 
of Thersites and the noble symmetry of Achilles. But 
not one of them all has in the least the power of discerning 
the resemblances which the organ or faculty of Com- 
parison is capable of detecting in some of the relations 
or accidents of things which are in their nature almost 
totally dissimilar. It would never strike the perceptive 
faculties that any likeness could be found between the 
Emperor Nicholas and his fortress of SebastopoL And 
yet there was a resemblance in the most prominent attri- 
bute of both of them. That attribute was power. Nicholas 
was powerful as a monarch, Sebastopol as a fortress. 
When Christ said " I am the door," he shewed his- 



COMPARISON. 539 

disciples in a style at once palpable and impressive, that 
it was through Him they had to pass before they could 
enter the kingdom of His Father. When again He says, 
" I am the vine," He meant to convey to their minds 
that everything vivifying and refreshing was to be found 
in him. 

This power of seeing resemblances in things which 
are, in their general attributes, entirely different, comes 
within the sphere of action of the organ of Comparison. 
And as its functions are more elevated than those of 
the perceptive faculties, so is the seat of its organ raised 
above theirs in the conclave of the intellectual powers. 
It also holds a central position which is a characteristic 
of organs that are radically of the highest importance. 
The convolutions of which it consists are supported below 
by the organ of Eventuality, and on each side by those 
of Causality. At the top it is in contact with Benevo- 
lence. 

Its central position between the organ of the most 
benign of the moral and religious sentiments, and the 
most important of the perceptive organs is well adapted 
to the discharge of the functions it has to perforin, since 
these appertain to each and all of the faculties. For it 
recognises resemblances not only in the attributes of 
incongruous physical objects, but also between things 
physical and things imbued with the characteristics of 
spirituality. It was, for instance, comparative sagacity 
enabled Plato to imagine and declare that if virtue could 
assume the human form, that form must be beautiful. 
There could not be any likeness whatever perceived by 
those of the perceptive faculties, which take cognizance 
of material objects only, between virtue and the human 
form. But the attribute of beauty might belong to a 



540 COMPARISON. 

human figure, and so far it would bear a resemblance 
to- virtue. Without the reflective faculty of Comparison, 
this analogy could not be comprehended. 

Eventuality, which prompts us to seek knowledge of 
every kind, so far as the other perceptive organs can 
minister to its wants, is strongly supported in its efforts 
by Comparison. When the latter points out or suggests 
that a likeness exists in things that before seemed the 
reverse of each other, the former acquires a fresh stock 
of information. Hence it is more agreeable to trace 
resemblances than differences, because, as Burke says, 
" by making resemblances, we produce new images, we 
unite, we create, we enlarge our stock; but, in making 
distinctions we offer no food at all to the imagination." 

Eventuality in its turn, amply repays Comparison by 
supplying it with materials to work upon, by virtue of 
its being the faculty which recognizes the existence and 
capacity of all the other organs, and assists in render- 
ing their efforts additionally vigorous, in order to gain a 
fresh supply of knowledge. 

This reciprocal action would lead to the influence that 
the feeling of personal identity depends upon these im- 
portant neighbouring organs. But since Eventuality 
accumulates in its storehouse of reminiscences the acts 
even of Comparison itself, it is to it should be attri- 
buted, chiefly, if not entirely, the feeling of self-cons- 
ciousness. 

It should be borne in mind that, when we enlarge 
upon the sphere of action of the organ of Comparison, it 
is necessary to take into consideration the duties performed 
by its auxilaries, lest it might appear that the scope of its 
influence was expanded beyond its natural bounds. For, 
although metaphors and similitudes are the offspring of 



COMPARISON. 541 

this faculty, their brilliancy will depend upon the supplies 
afforded by Eventuality and the gorgeous colouring of 
superior Ideality. 

In all those writers and speakers who are prone to 
enforce their point by arguments founded on analogy the 
organ of Comparison is strikingly developed. Counsel at 
the Bar, distinguished for their readiness in adducing 
cases in point to illustrate and confirm their pleadings, 
have the same part of the forehead also large. Wits, 
famous for their ludicrous play upon words, have all 
possessed a large organ of Comparison. Its efficiency in 
these respects, however, is necessarily based upon well 
developed organs of Eventuality, Individuality, and 
Language. Such was eminently the case in Curran, 
Home, Tooke, and Sheridan, according to their casts 
from nature. And in the busts and portraits of Canning 
these organs with that Comparison are very large. In 
the portraits of Thomas Hood and the Reverend Sydney 
Smith the organ of Comparison is conspicuous. The 
following is a marked instance of Sydney Smith's readiness 
in applying the faculty of Comparison in a ludicrous 
manner. A clergyman of wit and learning told me himself 
that Sydney Smith, on meeting him in London, after a 
long absence, asked him how he was situated in the Church. 
He replied, " I am like the Colossus of Rhodes, for I have 
one leg in Ireland and the other in England." " How so ? " 
asked the canon of St. Paul's. " I have a small living in 
Armagh and a Lectureship here at Bow," was the reply. 
"Oh!" said "Sydney the Witty," " I wish you had a third 
footing in Scotland, and then you would be like a Manx 
halfpenny." This reducing of my friend from the gigantic 
pedestal, upon which he had humorously placed himself, 
to the dwarfish dimensions of the singular three-legged 



542 COMPARISON. 

emblem that distinguishes the copper coin of the Isle of 
Man, is ludicrously witty. 

What a mirthful and striking example of the truth of 
the old adage, which was so often on the lips of the Great 
Napoleon, during his disastrous retreat from Moscow : 
" From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step !" 
The late celebrated orator and statesman, Lord Plunkett, 
was endowed with marvellous power in descrying remote 
analogies in order to throw a flood of light upon his 
profoundly logical discourses. This power he was fond of 
displaying in a ludicrous garb. 

When he and Charles Kendall Bushe were at the Bar 
there happened to be in the Court of Chancery a clerk of 
the name of Morris, who was a great fop in his mode of 
dressing. On one occasion during the temporary absence 
of the chancellor, there happened to enter the court an 
eminent scrivener of the name of Moore. Bushe, on the 
instant, asked Plunkett why that court was like Wales. 
" I give it up," was the reply. " What," said Bushe, 
■" don't you see Beau Morris?" "To be sure," said 
Plunkett, " you are quite right, for there is Penman 
Moore in the distance." His tendency to exercise his 
abounding sense of remote analogies sometimes vented 
itself in playful, but not ill-natured, sarcasm. A gentle- 
man was sitting with his lordship in his house, at Stephen's 
Green, on a Sunday morning, when his son, who was 
then Vicar of Bray, entered the drawing-room to bid his 
father good morning. " Where are you going now ? " 
said Plunkett. " To preach," said the vicar. " To Bray, 
my son means," said Plunkett, in a playful manner, 
turning to the visitor. 

In the mask of Dean Swift, taken immediately after 
death, there is a large development of the organ of Com- 



COMPARISON. 543 

parison, and those of Individuality and Eventuality are of 
immense size. But yet he does not seem to have taken 
pleasure in indulging in a ludicrous play upon words, 
though his organ of Language was also very large. He 
was, however, copious in his use of similitudes that 
presented images which were studiously sought for in 
objects, which, owing to the inefficiency of Ideality, were 
naturally lowly and sometimes indelicate, but ludicrous 
in the extreme, from his rare style of introducing them. 
In his " Tale of a Tub " he says, " "We of this age 
have discovered a shorter and more prudent method 
to become scholars and wits, without the fatigue of read- 
ing or thinking. The most accomplished way of using 
books at present, is twofold — either first to serve them as 
some men do lords, learn their titles exactly, and then 
brag of their acquaintance ; or, secondly, which is indeed 
the choicer, the profounder, and the politer method, to get 
a thorough insight into the index, by which the whole 
book is governed and turned like fishes by the tail. For 
to enter the palace of learning by the great gate, requires 
an expense of time and forms, therefore men of much 
haste and little ceremony, are content to get in by the 
back door. For the arts are all in a flying march, and 
therefore more easily subdued by attacking in the rear. 
. . . ; Thus men catch knowledge by throwing their 
wit on the posteriors of a book, as boys do sparrows 
with flinging salt upon their tails. The human life is 
best understood by the wise man's rule of regarding the 
end. Thus are the sciences found, like Hercules' oxen, 
by tracing them backwards. Thus are old sciences un- 
ravelled like old stockings, by beginning at the foot." 

A large organ of Comparison, supported by salient 
intellectual organs of proportions the most harmonious 



544 COMPARISON. 

that can well be imagined, and crowned by that of 
Ideality, of superior dimensions, with a noble develop- 
ment of the moral and religious organs, as is manifested 
in his portraits by Keynolds and Romney, enabled 
Edmund Burke to surprise and charm the world by the 
transcendant beauty and sublimity of his metaphors. 
His description of the beautiful and unfortunate Marie 
Antoinette is so fine an example that I am tempted 
to transcribe a portion of it, as a necessary contrast to 
the foregoing similes of Swift. 

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the 
Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles, and 
surely never lighted on this orb, which she scarcely 
seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her 
just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the 
elevated sphere she just began to move in — glittering like 
the morning star, full of life, and splendour, and joy." 
And again — " I thought ten thousand swords must have 
leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that 
threatened her with insult." The influence of the faculty 
of Comparison is beautifully displayed in the following 
passage— 

" But now all is changed. All the pleasing illusions 
which made power gentle and obedience liberal, which 
harmonised the different shades of life, and which by a 
bland assimilation, incorporated into politics the senti- 
ments which beautify and soften private society are to 
be dissolved by this new conquering empire of light and 
reason. All the decent drapery of life is to be rudely 
torn off, all the superadded ideas furnished from the 
wardrobe of a moral imagination which the heart owns 
and the understanding ratifies as necessary to cover the 
defects of our naked, shivering nature, and to raise it to 



COMPARISON. 545 

dignity in our own estimation, are to be exploded as a 
ridiculous, absurd, and antiquated fashion." And again, 
" nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order, it is 
the Corinthian capital of polished society." There is one 
passage more which evinces Burke's faculty of Comparison 
in a more appalling and, therefore, according to his own 
theory, a more sublime aspect. It is this — " Having 
terminated his disputes with ever}'' enemy and every 
rival, who buried their mutual animosities in their 
common detestation against the creditors of the nabob 
of Arcot, he (Hyder Aly) drew from every quarter what- 
ever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments 
in the arts of destruction, and compounding all the 
materials of fury, havoc, and desolation into one black 
cloud, he hung for a while on the declivities of the 
mountains. Whilst the authors of all these evils were 
idly and stupidly gazing on this menacing meteor which 
blackened all their horizon, it suddenly burst and poured 
down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the 
Carnatic. Then ensued a scene of woe, the like of which 
no eye had seen, no heart conceived, and which no tongue 
can adequately tell. All the horrors of war before known 
or heard of were mercy to that new havoc. A storm of 
universal fire blasted every field, consumed every house, 
destroyed every temple." 

Why this vast dissimilarity of form and feature between 
the similes and metaphors of these two great geniuses ? 
The disparity is attributable to this, namely, that the 
form of Burke's head was phrenologically indicative of a 
mind imbued, vivified, and adorned in a transcendent 
measure with a poetic sense of the beautiful in every- 
thing, whether moral or physical, and that Swift's was 
in a remarkable degree wanting in the same cerebral 

p p 



546 COMPARISON. 

characteristics which are accompanied by that " unbought 
grace of life " which so profusely adorned the thoughts 
of Burke. 

Amongst the distinguished poets of the present century 
there is no one more remarkable for the luxuriant abun- 
dance and poetic brilliancy of his metaphors and similes 
than Thomas Moore, and there is hardly any one can be 
met with in whom there is to be found so salient an 
organ of Comparison. And this was supported by large 
organs of Individuality, Eventuality and Language. One 
stanza from a charming song of his " Love's young 
dream " will serve to illustrate Moore's proneness to 
adorn the vivid creations of his fancy with beautiful 
and exquisitely appropriate metaphors and similes. 

" Oh, that hallowed form is ne'er forgot 

"Which first-love traced, 
Still it lingering haunts the greenest spot 

On memory's waste. 
'Twas odour fled, as soon as shed, 

'Twas morning's winged dream, 
Oh, 'twas a light that ne'er can shine again 
On life's dull stream." 

Such great writers as love to convey their fine imagin- 
ings through lengthened allegories are endowed with a 
dominant faculty of Comparison. The great poet Spencer 
was an extraordinary instance of it. And in the portrait 
of him, engraved by Virtue, the organ of Comparison is 
large ; though the harmonious blending of all the organs 
of his high and expanded forehead prevents the appear- 
ance of any signal isolated prominence in that of 
Comparison. Nothing can surpass his power in this 
respect, as it is displayed in his marvellous description of 
the affections and passions of the human mind in the 



COMPARISON. 547 

Masque of Cupid before the representee of Chastity in 
the " Fairy Queen." The " Comparative sagacity " of Gall 
is there shewn in perfection. The aptness of his similies 
is well exemplified in his story of the giant reformer of 
the world, where he says — 

" Therefore the vulgar did about him flock, 
And cluster thick unto his leasings vain, 
Like foolish flies about a honey-crock, 
In hope by him great benefit to gain, 
And uncontrolled freedom to obtain." 

And in his description of Belphasbe where he says in 
a strain more soft and musical — 

" Her face so fair as flesh it seemeth not, 
But heavenly portrait of bright angel's hue, 
Clear as the sky withouten blame or blot, 
Through goodly mixtures of complexions due ; 
And in her cheeks the vermeil red did shew, 
Like roses in a bed of lilies shed, 
The which ambrosial odours from them threw, 
As gazer's sense with double pleasure fed, 
Able to heal the sick and to revive the dead." 

In a print published some years ago on the continent 
"from a picture, by Titian, of Ariosto, the organ of Compa- 
rison is very large. And it is large in Enea Vico's little 
profile of him from the medallion by the poet's cotemporary, 
Doni. The organ is also large in the portrait of Bunyan, 
whose Pilgrim's Progress is a surprising instance of 
genius in giving birth to allegorical allusions and delinea- 
tions which wear the appearance of reality. But it should 
be observed that those who evince a marked proneness to 
personify abstract ideas, have also Eventuality and Indi- 
viduality prominently developed. For in proportion to 
the force and activity of these will be the fertility of 



548 COMPAEISON. 

Comparison. They alone are capable of supplying it 
with materials from which it can extract its delightful 
sustenance, as the flowers of the meadow and the garden 
plenteously afford to the honey-bees the substance without 
which it would not be possible for them to produce their 
delicious food. 

Comparison would seem to be, par excellence, a faculty 
essential to the successful poet. And it is found, accord- 
ingly, that the centre of the upper region of the forehead 
is full and rounded in all poets of eminence. It, as well 
as Ideality and the organs of the observing and combining 
or harmonizing faculties, is exceedingly salient in the 
antique bust of Homer. And though we cannot place 
reliance upon its authenticity as a representation of a 
mighty genius, whose very existence is stoutly denied by 
some sceptical critics, yet how curious is the coincidence 
between the mental attributes of the man and the form of 
his head, which is such as Grail and Spurzheim would have 
expected to find it. In Pindar and in Theocritus, 
iEschylus, Sophocles, and Menander it is very large ; 
and also in Euripides. In the mask, from nature, of 
Tasso it is very large. . The case is the same in all poets 
who occupy a niche in the choicest shrine of the Temple 
of Fame, whose portraits I have carefully examined. 



CAUSALITY 



The names given by Grail to the faculty which is found, 
by vast experience, to reside in the organ which has 
its seat on each side of Comparison, are these, " meta- 
physical depth of thought," " aptitude for drawing con- 
clusions." These terms are adapted to convey an ade- 
quate notion of the true scope of its functions, and Gall 
used them, because he invariably found in the portraits 
and busts of all men renowned for the mental qualities 
above named, a remarkable fulness of the forehead at 
the place already described. In Cicero, Socrates, Bacon, 
'Galileo, and Liebnitz he found this to be the case. And 
in a cast " moulded on the head of Kant after his death, ' 
he says, " It was with a lively pleasure that we saw the 
extraordinary prominence of the two frontal parts which 
I have pointed out." He found it still larger in Fichte, 
and it was also characteristic in the forehead of Shelling. 
Gall in allusion to the Kantean philosophy says, " It 
seems to be proved by experience that so long as man 
is condemned to inhabit this earth, there is no advantage 
to be drawn by him from the speculations of this sublime 
philosophy, and, consequently, that we shall do well to 
confine ourselves within that sphere of activity which 
the world of realities offers us." Gall had no sympathy 
with the transcendental metaphysics. His wisdom was 
olear, obvious, and practical, and capable of being 



550 CAUSALITY. 

comprehended by men and women of ordinary capacity. 
But how great must be the haze which eternally envelopes 
the light left by the broad and vivid intelligence of Kant 
to illumine the ways of his followers, when we find his 
enthusiastic admirer, the enlightened and eloquent 
De Quincy, saying that even Coleridge, who studied 
Kant with great assiduity, was yet incapable of con- 
veying an adequate notion of Kant's doctrine. But 
the existence of a doctrine which seems to be so incom- 
prehensible, even by one of its most gifted students, 
shews clearly that the reflective faculty, which Gall calls 
" aptitude for drawing conclusions," will act vaguely and 
speculatively when the premises on which it rests its 
conclusions are merely conjectural, and not founded on 
the observation of things external to our own minds, 
whether such things be physical or mental. It is certain 
that the greatest minds have floundered in their specula- 
tions on the philosophy of mind, because their premises 
were drawn from their own consciousness, without being 
aware that individual consciousness must be as diversified 
as the various, and often totally opposite, dispositions 
and talents of men. 

Very different has been the manner of Dr. Grail as we 
have seen, and how widely different is the result. All 
that he has bequeathed to us is precise, perspicuous, 
positive, and harmonious. And the great patriarch of 
philosophers, Bacon, says, "It is the harmony of a 
philosophy in itself which giveth it light and credence, 
whereas, if it be singled and broken, it will seem more 
foreign and dissonant." 

Individuals endowed with a large organ of Causality, 
desire to find out the cause of everything. Some, accord- 
ing to the predominant characteristics of their intellectual 



CAUSALITY. 551 

and moral organs, will search, with a scrutinizing glance, 
into the cause of moral and political phenomena, whilst 
others spend their lives in investigating the cause of the 
action of the wondrous things which constitute this mar- 
vellous universe of matter. The very large organ of 
Causality in the forehead of Edmund Burke was biased 
in the noble course it took through the wide and tumul- 
tuous sea of politics in order to discover the true and 
salutary foundation upon which public morals should be 
reared, by the kind of information which his fine observing 
powers, clothed as they were in a dress furnished by the 
"wardrobe of a moral imagination." suggested. This 
information of his was certainly vastly comprehensive and 
minute, for, as was eloquently said by Grattan, " He 
read everything, he saw everything, he foresaw every- 
thing." But yet the tendency of his great perceptive 
faculties was not such as would instinctively, and through 
choice, prompt him to give his time to the pursuits of 
geometry, and the working out, for practical ends, the 
raw materials hidden in the secret recesses of the earth, 
or displayed in all the expansive magnificence of the 
celestial spheres. 

What a disparity between the direction given by Burke 
to his paramount capacity for the investigation and dis- 
covery of causes and that taken by that prodigy of 
mathematical genius, Isaac Newton. And how widely 
distinct also from Burke's procedure was the course pur- 
sued by James Watt, the great mechanical inventor and 
improver of engines, which have already wrought such 
wonderful changes in the moral and physical aspect of 
things. 

Now, these three great men possessed large organs of 
Causality. But so protuberant were those of Individuality, 



552 CAUSALITY. 

Locality, Size, weight or sense of Resistance, Order 
and Number in two of them, that, like Handel in regard 
to music, and Tasso to poetry, they were irresistibly- 
drawn to cultivate geometry, astronomy, and mechanics. 
In Newton the organ of the Faculty of Number was 
stronger. In Watt that of Constructiveness seemed to 
be in the ascendant. Their faculty for investigating 
causes was chiefly exercised in the wide domain of physics, 
Burke's in the more comprehensive and intricate region 
of moral, social, and political science, and always with a 
view to its wise and salutary application to the further- 
ance of human happiness. 

The intellectual organs of Burke were remarkably 
large, and so harmoniously interwoven with one another 
that their mutual influence was in the highest degree 
effective in eliciting the grandest efforts of which each 
was capable. But they were not fitted to confer on their 
possessor the power of outstripping every competitor 
in astronomical and mechanical pursuits, like those of 
Newton and Watt, for the tendency of their faculties 
led these great men to follow subjects of a more special 
character. He far surpassed them, however, in the kind 
of genius which adorned the great mind of Bacon, whom 
he approached, in the opinion of Hallam, the nearest of all 
modern writers. 

In Faithorne's fine engraving of Hobbes, a man 
eminent as a writer on mathematics, philosophy, and 
politics, the organ of Causality is conspicuous even in a 
forehead of great expansiveness. But the organs of the 
pure mathematics are not so decidedly salient as they are 
found to be in the mask of Newton, in which they stand 
out • in unrivalled luxuriance. And, consequently, his 
great faculties were not, like Newton's, almost exclu- 



CAUSALITY. 553 

-sively devoted to mathematics and astronomy. Neither 
was success commensurate with his efforts in mathematics, 
for, as Faithorne's print indicates, geometry was not his 
forte. 

It is obvious, when contemplating such examples, as 
have been already adduced, that Causality is not, in its 
action, confined to metaphysical disquisitions or casuistical 
speculations, although it imbues the mind with a strong 
bias in that direction, such, for instance, as characterised 
the fine intellect of Godwin, in the cast of whose head the 
organ of Causality is very large. 

In Cobbett, on the contrary, Causality is moderate, 
both absolutely and relatively, and, as has been stated 
elsewhere, his genius was entirely the reverse of specula- 
tive. Indeed, he says himself, in his " Plan of Parlia- 
mentary Reform," "It is to the effect of anything that 
I look at, and not at the theory and principle from which 
it proceeds. These may be too nice, may lie too deeply 
hidden from my perception, but the effects I can see 
and am able to estimate." How much this mental 
tendency of Cobbett differs from that which suggested 
and moulded into expressive forms what Shelley calls 
the " Sublime Causistry " of Godwin. In the forehead 
of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, more indicative of acuteness 
than profundity of intellect, of eloquent affluence, of 
pointed illustration than of abstruse metaphysical reason- 
ing, the organ of Causality is not a characteristic feature. 
It was larger in Curran, but in neither of them was it 
to be compared to the paramount though not dispro- 
portioned size of the same organ in the mask and portraits 
of Edmund Burke. 

A great development of Causality was a characteristic 
of the fine head of the great lawyer and charming orator, 



554 CAUSALITY. 

Lord Mansfield, as may be seen in the lifelike bust of 
him by Nollekens. In a fine cotemporary mezzotint 
engraving of Bolingbroke it is also remarkably salient. 
Were it not so in him he would never have given occasion 
to Pope, in whose own head the organ of Causality is 
singularly well-developed, to call him ''his guide, philoso- 
pher, and friend." The organ is large in Voltaire and 
in Benjamin Franklin, as their busts by Houdon testify. 
In Gibbon's portrait by Eeynolds, engraved by John 
Hall, the organ is very large, and great was his talent 
in sifting and discriminating historical evidence. Such 
is also the case in a small print engraved by Ravenet, 
of David Hume, who possessed a genius remarkable for 
metaphysical subtlety. Causality is relatively very promi- 
nent in the portrait of Dr. John Brown, the author of the 
Brunonian system of medicine, a man who was carried 
away by a propensity to extravagant generalization. 
This is a fault which is likely to mar the success of the- 
inventions and projects of all those in whom the great size 
of this organ is accompanied by inadequately developed 
organs of Individuality and Eventuality, as was the case- 
with Dr. Brown. It was the ample development of these 
in the forehead of Edmund Burke which prevented his 
discriminating intellect from falling into speculative 
courses to which his paramount eagerness to find out 
the cause of everything that comes within the sphere of 
human conduct might very probably lead him. And it 
is to the less favourable development of these two 
organs in the fine reflective forehead of Godwin that his 
extravagant and unstable political speculations are to be 
attributed, and coupled, as they undoubtedly were in him, 
with a singular absence of reverence for old established 
manners and institutions, and a self-reliant confidence 



CAUSALITY. 555> 

in the wisdom of his plans for bringing about the speedy 
fulfilment of his own benevolent aspirations, he was 
certain to enunciate startling dogmas in politics and 
religion (see Plate 1). Burke's reasoning took its form 
and complexion from sentiments enlightened by inspira- 
tions of a totally opposite character. 

The faculty now under consideration enables man to 
see fitness, to trace effects up to their causes as well as 
to foresee the effect which a certain manner of acting is 
calculated to produce ; in other words, to detect con- 
sequences which are likely to follow certain premises. It 
prompts us to ask why ? — from its inherent love of tracing 
things through successive ascending steps from the 
obvious and immediate cause to the ultimate one. 

But is it to be supposed that, because Causality prompts 
us to ask why, it is also to be deemed the faculty that 
really does ask the question ? Or is it more correct to 
suppose that Eventuality, which is desirous of knowing 
the acquisitions of all the faculties, to know everything, 
in fact, asks the question and that Causality serves to 
solve it ? For as the former faculty wishes to know every- 
thing, it is reasonable to think that it wishes to know the 
cause of everything, since the cause itself is something. 
But still, its desire to know the cause of all things will be 
proportioned to the development of the organ of Causality.. 
We have seen an instance of this in the admission of 
Cobbett, whose predominant Eventuality was not usually 
prompted by his moderate Causality to enquire into- 
causes ; whilst the comparatively moderate organ of 
Eventuality in Godwin, taking its tone from a singu- 
larly dominant Causality, was always anxious to learn the 
cause of everything to which he gave his attention. 

A person of good abilities, in whom this organ is large> 



555 CAUSALITY. 

will be capable of displaying fertility of mental resources 
in a far higher degree than another, of even superior 
general abilities, whose Causality is less vigorous and 
active. It is a most important organ ; and it takes an 
active part in all human arrangements. It is sometimes 
very large when Comparison is moderate in size ; and 
sometimes very moderately developed when Comparison is 
exceedingly salient. To be assured of this, it is only 
requisite to compare the casts from nature of Curran, 
Home Tooke, Thomas Moore, Sir Walter Scott, and James 
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd with that of the original, 
imaginative, but unhappy painter, Haydon. Compa- 
rison was paramount in the five first-named distinguished 
men, whilst the remarkable saliency of Causality afforded 
a striking contrast to the moderate development of Com- 
parison in the fine expanded forehead of Haydon. But 
Haydon was also, relatively weak m the organ of Even- 
tuality. And it is to these deficiencies combined with a 
rather small organ of Caution, and very large ones of 
Love of Approbation and Hope, with an inadequate 
development of Firmness, that caused him, notwithstand- 
ing his superior talents and genius, to suffer his worldly 
affairs to fall into irretrievable ruin. Active and well 
developed organs of Eventuality and Comparison are 
important ingredients in that most useful of mental 
attributes, common sense. In this attribute poor Haydon 
was sadly deficient. How widely different was the 
development of these two organs in the cast from nature 
of his friend, David Wilkie ! In him they were large 
and prominent. And unlike Haydon, Wilkie never lost 
sight of passing events, as they were likely to affect 
him ; nor did he fail to use a very influential faculty of 
Comparison in weighing contingencies, so as to enable a 



CAUSALITY. 557 

competent, though not dominant Causality, to descry 
legitimate results. In this Hay don failed, notwithstanding 
his very large and predominant organ of Causality. 
And, indeed, the failure was, in a great measure, owing 
to this inharmonious predominance. Fertile in devising 
projects he certainly was, but apt to overlook things which 
were likely to start up, on some inconvenient occasion, in 
the shape of insurmountable obstacles to their successful 
accomplishment. The form of Hay don's head was far 
more indicative of inherent original poetical imaginings 
than Wilkie's. But his relatively inefficient organs of 
Eventuality and Comparison rendered him less capable, 
by far, than Wilkie, of seeing through the characters and 
manners of men; because it was not a characteristic 
feature of his mind to give his attention to what was 
common and incidental in the circumstances of life, a 
feature which shone out in all the bright truth of nature 
in Wilkie's best productions. Witness his exquisitely 
charming picture of " Duncan Grey." 

I have drawn this contrast between two men of genius 
in order to shew the extent of the influence of the reflec- 
tive organ of Causality; and how far it is incapable of 
seeing results without the assistance of its potent 
auxiliaries, Comparison and Eventuality. 

When Causality prodominates in a forehead .which is. 
large, and in all respects, finely balanced, with a good 
organ of Language, you will have the orator, who is able 
to confound and demolish the arguments of his opponents 
by his great power as a logician. Such, in a very unique 
degree, were the characteristic features of the lofty and 
broad forehead of the late Lord Plunkett. And this 
faculty was in him so powerful that the Times likened 
his oratory to a sledge-hammer which completely crushed 



558 CAUSALITY. 

his antagonists. When Lord Carnarvon said that, com- 
pared to Canning, all the orators of the day were pigmies, 
Brougham, a kindred soul, said he was sure the noble 
lord never could have heard the Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland. This power was so eminently conspicuous in 
Plunkett, that Daniell Whittle Harvey, who was himself 
a first-rate orator, told me that Plunkett was decidedly 
the greatest orator he had ever heard. That so great was 
his fertility in mental resources, he had the power on 
the instant, and as it were instinctively, of strengthening 
his argument, by placing his subject in new lights, which 
were issuing, in rapid succession, from the deep recesses 
of his capacious understanding, and flashing so brilliantly 
that what seemed before obscure was rendered as clear 
as the light of a summer's day. And, moreover, that 
these were lights which no one of all his gifted auditors 
could have imagined, and yet nothing could seem more 
simple and natural than their appropriateness. 

In oratory such is the effect of a very large organ of 
Causality, when it is supported by a fine development of 
all the other organs. It is large in the broad and beauti- 
fully shaped forehead of O'Connell, whom Lord Jeffrey, 
one of the best of judges, pronounced, in a short letter to 
his friend Lord Colburn, from the House of Commons, to 
be the first speaker in Parliament — " that he had all the 
force and point of Demosthenes with a far greater range 
of power." And his geat fertility in devising means to 
bring his plans to a successful issue, a talent of which 
Causality is an essential ingredient, was incontestably 
proved, all through the difficult and often hazardous 
course, which he was led by the circumstances of his 
native land to pursue. 

In unexpected and trying emergencies Causality is an 



CAUSALITY. 559 

active element of that most valuable compound faculty 
called Presence-of-mind. With this faculty O'Connell 
seemed to be highly gifted. A rare and pleasing instance 
of this occurred at the " Crown and Anchor," in the 
Strand, when Lord Brougham was chairman of a meet- 
ing, convened for the purpose of bringing about a removal 
of the stamp duty on newspapers. This meeting was 
anxiously waiting for O'Connell, when a shout outside 
was heard, and the great agitator was the next instant 
borne to the platform, almost on the shoulders of the 
crowd. Brougham, who, at that moment, was engaged 
talking to a lady, who sat on his left, had his right hand 
resting on the arm of his chair. O'Connell instantly went 
up to the chair and laid his hand upon the back of his 
lordship's. Brougham turned rapidly round and shook 
him cordially by the hand, O'Connell clasping Brougham's 
between both his own. Here was presence of mind 
genially manifested, for these two great men had had a 
serious falling out some time before, which gave rise to 
much bitter objurgation on both sides, and this was the 
first time of their reunion. Had it not been for this 
seasonable and unexpected renewal of good will, a feeling 
of coldness and discomfort would have clamped the spirit 
of the principal actors on that day. But it is in the next 
move on the board that O'Connell 's presence of mind was 
chiefly shewn on this occasion. 

It happened that the crowd in the body of the great 
hall were not satisfied with the sight they had of the plat- 
form, and to remedy the inconvenience, insisted that 
every speaker should mount upon a chair before they 
would listen to him. Even Lord Brougham himself, 
though he was president, was compelled to comply with 
their vociferous demands. The same cry of " Gret upon 



560 CAUSALITY. 

the chair," was vigorously raised when O'Connell came 
forward to harangue the multitude. But he, having the 
fear of the breaking down of monster meeting platforms 
before his imagination, shook his head, as a sign of refusal. 
Still they boisterously and repeatedly insisted, and he as 
often shook his massive head, with its multifarious and 
buoyant contents. At length, when further resistance 
seemed perfectly hopeless, the benevolent and venerable 
Dr. Birkbeck was handing a frail-looking chair to 
O'Connell, when the latter waved his hand backwards 
in token of refusal, saying, at the same time, in the 
sonorous and melodious accents of his powerful soft 
harmonious voice, " No, my good friend, I'm for the 
floor. I don't wish to be raised above the people. And, 
when I see such a number of goodly faces smiling before 
me, I feel that I shall never repent of that determination." 
" Don't mind the chair," was shouted from all sides. At 
that instant, presence of mind again came instinctively 
to his aid. Lord Brougham had but recently strided 
triumphantly from the ranks of the Commons, and lest 
these words should give rise to comparisons unpalatable 
to his lordship, O'Connell proceeded in a strain of eloquent 
and well-deserved panegyric to applaud the institutions 
which opened a way for such a distinguished friend of 
the people, and so pure and disinterested an administrator 
of law and equity to the highest seat near the throne. 
Brougham was then Lord Chancellor. 

But yet the organ of Causality was still larger in 
Plunkett's forehead than in 0' Conn ell's. 

To shew that the upper or reflective region of the fore- 
head lying between the organs of Mirthfulness, is com- 
posed of two organs it is only necessary to compare the 
mask from nature of Thomas Moore, in whose forehead 



CAUSALITY. 561 

the central portion — Comparison — greatly predominates 
over the lateral, with the fine and scrupulously modelled 
bust of Lord Plunkett, by Christopher Moore, in which 
the lateral parts — Causality — are relatively protuberant, 
but yet not so as to overshadow Comparison. Or let the 
portraits of Charles the Fifth, of Spain, whose subtle and 
capacious mind never suffered him to hazard any im- 
portant undertaking, until he had first closely investigated 
the effects that would be likely to ensue from causes 
which the changeful state of circumstances were constantly 
bringing before him, with those of Francis the First, 
and how vast will the disparity be found to be in the 
upper region of their foreheads ! It was this strong 
tendency to trace effects to their causes, and causes to 
their effects, that rendered Charles so superior to his rival 
Francis, who was generous, chivalric, open, but compara- 
tively unreflective. Again, let the pictures and busts of 
Napoleon and of Wellington be compared with those of 
the late Duke of York, by Nollekens and Lawrence, and 
the contrast in the development of Causality will be found 
to be of a very decided character. In the fine print by 
Delft, of William the First, Prince of Orange, the wise 
and youthful chosen adviser of Charles the Fifth, the 
•organ of Causality is conspicuously prominent. It is, 
also, extremely large in the portraits of Philip Melancthon. 
And it is extraordinarily large in the exceedingly massive 
forehead of Dr. Gall, whose precocious desire to know 
the cause of things which he could not understand, 
elicited the first sparks of that light which was destined 
to illumine and entirely to dispel the dark shadows 
which for ages had concealed the true and fair form 
of mental philosophy. 



Q Q 



ALIMENTIVENESS. 



It was long ago surmised by Spurzheim and other 
leading writers on this science that the cause of the desire 
for food lay in the brain and not in the stomach, and 
certainly facts seem to confirm the validity of the conjec- 
ture ; for children born without a brain, do not turn 
instinctively, like perfectly formed new-born babes, to the 
mother's bosom. Nor can the brainless infant be got to 
suckle, even when placed with the nipple in its mouth, 
though he moves his lips, owing to the sensation of con- 
tact ; but not from any instinctive effort of the will. 

Many years ago there occurred in one of the hospitals 
of Paris a case confirmatory of this general assertion. 

Now, since that brainless new-born infant had a fully- 
formed and apparently healthy medulla oblongata, with 
a pneumogastric nerve proceeding from it, that nerve, 
which imparts or conveys the digestive function to the 
stomach, through the glands of the gastric juice ; and out 
■of which body also proceeds the trigeminal nerve, a 
portion of which serves as the nerve of taste. Since such 
is the case, and as brainless children have no appetite for 
food, it follows that appetite for food does not depend 
either upon the stomach, or the palate, or on the medulla 
oblongata. Where then, are we to look for the source of 
the desire for food ? Where but in the brain ? And 



ALIMENTIVENESS. 563 

Phrenology seems to have afforded a clue to its special 
habitation, which has been so long and so illusively 
sought for. 

Some forty years ago there was at Amsterdam a full 
grown idiot, who did not seem to have any craving for 
food ; and when food was presented to him, he made no 
effort to feed himself, but he would eat when fed by 
another, and he digested what he ate, like other people ; 
but whether he relished his food or not I have no evidence 
on which to form any opinion. But this is on record, 
that his volition never led him to seek for food. This poor 
creature lived to the age of twenty -five years. He was 
exhibited about various parts of the continent, as a sort 
of nondescript, in the same way as the so called Astec 
children were paraded here in London not many years 
ago. But with this difference, that the unhappy idiot 
of Amsterdam was pretended to be something not quite 
human ; while the Astecs, complete idiots also, were said 
to be the representatives of an extinct race- An assump- 
tion which I was the first to contravert at the Ethnological 
Society, just before they were shewn in public. 

We see, then, that the poor idiot of Amsterdam, 
unlike this brainless child, with his spinal marrow and 
medulla oblongata only, could receive and perhaps enjoy 
food, though he wanted the power of looking for it. But 
the idiot was endowed with all that part of the nervous 
centres which were found in the acephalous being ; and 
he, moreover, possessed a brain. An exceedingly small 
and imperfectly shaped one to be sure it was ; but 
yet it was a brain. And as he had some appetite for 
food, and as brainless children, though otherwise com- 
pletely organized, have seemingly, at least, no appetite 
for food, it follows, as evidence the most conclusive, that 

QQ2 



564 ALIMENTIVENESS. 

in the brain itself is to be found the true source of the 
desire for food. 

Next conies the question as to the situation of the portion 
of nervous matter which gives rise to this propensity. 
And it must be conceded that it cannot reside in the upper 
and frontal regions of the brain ; since, in this poor idiot's 
diminutive head there was palpable evidence of the absence 
of these parts. Yet, a like deficiency seems to exist in 
the lower animals, that are almost constantly feeding ; but 
their instincts, which are perfect, owing to the normal 
completeness of their brains, direct them to the food which 
is wholesome for them. But, in the poor idiot's case, the 
total want of the portion of the brain, in which the intel- 
lectual organs lie, precluded that luckless creature from 
the power of choosing his food, or even of thinking that it 
was necessary to the support of his existence. It must, 
then, be in the base of the brain, which even this idiot- 
possessed, but yet in very scanty and imperfect measure 
(see diagram). And as it is clear from the instances 
already adduced, that desires have their source in the 
perfectly organized convolutions of the brain ; and as 
those convolutions are all appropriated to the various 
and well-defined functions of the human mind, it remains 
for us to see how far evidence tends to prove that the 
desire for food has its organ in convolutions, which are 
certainly quite distinct from any one of those which are 
essential to the manifestation of the other mental faculties. 
Experience founded on a careful observation of facts 
emboldens me to aver it, as my sincere conviction, that 
those convolutions which form part of the middle lobe of 
the brain, lying immediately in front of the organ of 
Destructiveness, constitute the organ which has been 
called Alimentiveness and also Gustativeness by Combe 
and other writers. 



ALIMENTIVENESS. 565 

The natural appropriateness of this situation goes a good 
way to shew the strong probability of its being the organ 
we are in search of. For it lies in close contact with the 
organs of Acquisitiveness, Secretiveness, and Destructive- 
ness. And as there is no desire, the gratification of which 
is so absolutely indispensable to the preservation of life, so 
it is placed near those organs, which are best calculated to 
minister to its irresistible cravings. " Hunger will break 
through stone walls." Yes, but that is done through the 
agency of D'estructiveness, the destroyer. The starving 
creature, endowed, perhaps, with better inclinations, will 
purloin ; but it is by means of Acquisitiveness, excited by 
the overbearing irritation of its neighbour Alimentiveness. 
and how often do we witness to what an extent Secretive- 
ness is excited in animals pinched with hunger. In beasts 
of prey the excitement raised in these three organs by 
hunger is uncontrollable. 

Such, then, would seem to be the natural position of 
this organ. But this seeming assumes the proportions and 
substance of reality when experience teaches that where 
voraciousness characterizes the appetite of a man, there 
will also, and invariably, be found a swelling or protu- 
berance of the scull immediately in front of the organs of 
Secretiveness and Destructiveness, — a fulness not to be 
discerned in the heads of persons, who are moderate eaters 
and temperate with respect to diet. 

Out of a large number of corroborative instances of 
that fact which have presented themselves to me in society, 
I could notice several, but it will be better to confine 
myself to a few cases which can at any time be tested, as 
there are casts to verify them. 

The criminal Greenacre had a very protuberant deve- 
lopment of this part of the brain, and his last act before 



566 ALIMENTIVENESS. 

his execution was to write a letter to Alderman Humphrey- 
thanking him for the generosity he had shewn in having 
him plentifully supplied with good food during his con- 
finement in Newgate. In the cast of Rush the same 
part is very large, and the last instance of the activity of 
his grovelling propensities appeared in a letter written 
by him the evening before he was hanged in order that 
his pork dinner should be made as luxurious as possible, 
and he particularly requested that the pudding should 
have plenty of suet in it. One can hardly imagine how 
in his unhappy condition he could have an appetite for 
anything, even for viands the most delicate, not to speak 
of food so gross as that he was longing for. But perhaps 
the most singular case of inordinate love of good and 
abundant feeding occurred in Dublin some years ago, in 
the person of John Delahunt, already noticed for the 
excessive smallness of the organ of Conscientiousness in 
his head. We have seen that for the sake of money, as 
an informer, and still more for abundant feeding, he did 
not scruple to murder an innocent child and then swear 
that he had seen its sick mother do the foul act. And 
it is worthy of note that during the doleful interval of 
three weeks which passed between his conviction and 
execution he ate so abundantly, that from being a slight 
youth he became fat and ruddy. Now the organ called 
Alimentiveness projects in the cast of Delahunt's head 
like the segment of the upper end of a good sized hen 
egg. There were two workmen in the late Mr. Deville's 
employment who were enormous eaters. In their heads 
this organ was extremely protuberant. There was also 
in his collection the cast of a bushranger who was hanged 
at Sydney with five other desperate convicts for murder, 
in which the organ was of immense size, and it was 



ALIMENTIVENESS. 567 

surprising to read the detailed account of the enormous 
quantity of food he devoured on the very morning of his 
execution — food supplied at his own urgent request. 

It has lately been shewn from authentic historic records 
that the Great Charles the Fifth, of Spain, was morbidly 
disposed to indulge, beyond all reasonable bounds, even 
to the destroying of his health, his unconquerable love 
of eating. And certainly, it was with a lively feeling of 
satisfaction I beheld the remarkable fulness of the organ 
we are now considering in a fine marble bust of that 
extraordinary man, which was in the collection of the 
late Lord Northwick. Many other instances, corrobora- 
tive of the foregoing ones, could be adduced, but it would 
be tedious to multiply them. 

How unlike to that of Charles was the development 
of the same part of the head in the finest engraving of 
St. Ignatius Loyola, who led a life of the strictest 
abstinence. This picture is a striking indication of the 
motives which first prompted him to follow a life of 
privation and fasting, as well as of the facility with which 
he was enabled to continue his ascetic course of living. 
For the remarkable smallness of the organ of the Love of 
Eating precluded any likelihood of a sense of irksomeness 
arising which might tempt him to falter in the plenary 
carrying out of his extraordinary undertaking. 

Exclusive of the evidence, both physiological and 
craniological, which has already been laid before the 
reader, there is an anatomical fact, which, as an auxiliary, 
may, with advantage, be brought up as a force in reserve 
to help the main body of facts to maintain their ground. 

It is a striking phenomenon in the natural history of 
the cerebral nerves, that they all, with a single exception, 
take their rise in the medulla oblongata, and in its 



568 ALIMENTIVENESS. 

immediate vicinity, as is the case with the optic nerves, 
which arise in the quadrigeminal bodies. The nerve of 
the sense of smell forms that exception, for its fibres can 
be easily demonstrated as taking their rise from the very 
heart of the convolutions which compose the organ of 
Alimentiveness. 

Through this connection of parts one may account for 
the fact that, in passing before dinner over the savoury 
vapour issuing from the kitchen of some leading London 
club-house, the salivary glands sometimes pour out in 
abundance that secretion which is essential to the palatable 
enjoyment of food, and a craving for food is generated. 
Now, the Olfactory nerve cannot directly convey its 
pleasant impressions farther than the object with which 
it is solely incorporated (and that object, as we have seen, 
consists of the convolutions which are seated in front of 
those of Destructiveness), consequently, that nerve is not 
the proximate cause of the excitement of the salivary 
glands. But it is the first or remote cause, for it com- 
municates to the organ of the desire for food a sensation 
which is capable of exciting its natural wants, and that 
organ, in its turn, communicates its excitement to the 
gland of the great trigeminal nerve, which lies beneath 
it, and in close contact with it on the base of the scull, 
some way behind the back of the bony orbit. This tri- 
geminal nerve divides, at this place, into three branches, 
which communicate in the face, and on their passage to 
it, with other cerebral nerves ; and it, moreover, furnishes 
the nerve of taste or the gustatory nerve. In this way it 
transmits the excitement, communicated to it by the 
organ of Alimentiveness, to the nerves of the mouth and 
tongue, and thus are the salivary glands brought to pour 
out the saliva which, with electric speed, followed the 



ALIMENTIVENESS. 569 

contact of a savoury vapour with the nerves of the sense 
of smelling. The close connection, again, of the trigeminal 
nerve, at its origin in the medulla oblongata, with the 
pneumogastric, or the nerve which promotes digestion, 
by exciting the glands that supply the gastric juice, serves 
to produce simultaneousness of action in all these parts. 

Here is presented to vis a chain of phenomena, following 
each other in rapid succession without displaying a single 
broken link, and all of them traceable to the convolutions 
of the brain, which form the anterior portion of its middle 
lobes. That the inherent function of this part is an 
instinctive desire to take food, is an opinion based upon 
positive and negative evidence of a palpable and con- 
vincing kind. And it is, moreover, a striking coincidence 
in favour of the correctness of the view taken as to this 
matter, that the convolutions in question are found to 
lie amongst those which are essentially needful for the 
preservation of life. But, occasionally its activity is so 
craving, and so productive of enjoyment, that individuals, 
even of superior intellects and noble dispositions, have 
allowed themselves to rush headlong into the revolting 
embrace of swinish gluttony. 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER, 

ON THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OP THE SCIENCE TO EDUCA- 
TION, INSANITY, AND PRISON DISCIPLINE. 

The mind of man, then, is a compound of animal pro- 
pensities, moral and religious sentiments, and intellectual 
faculties, and the proportion in which these mental 
qualities are awarded to mankind is infinitely diversified. 
To Phrenology alone is due the merit of having demon- 
strated the relative prevalence of any of these orders of 
faculties in any individual, and not only the prevalence 
of each order itself, but also of the special primitive 
faculties of which the order is composed. Some men are 
swayed by their animal nature, without sufficient moral 
control, and place happiness in present gratification with- 
out duly considering the mischief they are entailing upon 
themselves and others. Some again who are much higher 
in the scale of humanity, possess an amount of the moral 
sense sufficient to create a clashing of motives, strong 
enough to cause deep repentance for past transgressions, 
but yet inadequate to prevent their occasional recurrence. 
Others again are blessed with so fine an assemblage of 
moral sentiments that even their possibly strong animal 
tendencies are kept in subjection. While many a nobly- 
disposed man has forfeited much of his influence in the 
spreading of happiness, through the want of such an 
amount of the animal nature, as would be necessary to 
render him self-reliant and energetic enough to encounter 
difficulties and to overcome them. With a slight addi- 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 571 

tional infusion of those valuable mental ingredients, 
self-reliance and courage to meet danger, such high 
moral endowments would be the instigators of conduct 
such as have immortalised the names of Fenelon and 
Sir Thomas More, while a little more of the animal pro- 
pensities would be productive of an Epaminondas or a 
Washington. 

The extremes to which these personal characteristics 
reach are well exemplified in the antagonistic dispositions 
of Luther and Melancthon. Could any earthly power or 
process convert the gentle, inoffensive Phillip Melancthon 
into the bold, turbulent, and abusive, but yet magnani- 
mous Martin Luther, or the devout and amiable 
Charles Borromeo into the overbearing, irascible, warlike 
Julius the Second ? As well might we hope to gather 
" grapes from thorns or figs from thistles." But though 
such characters can never become reciprocally convertible, 
yet their redundancies might, in the fitting season of 
youth, and by judicious training, be arrested in their 
progress, and their deficiences invigorated, so as to 
render them active allies in the furtherance of good 
intentions. 

As to the possibility of effecting such changes and of 
rendering them permanent, there is nothing so assuring 
as one simple fact, for the knowledge of which we are 
indebted to Phrenology. And that fact consists of the 
growth and diminution of the head, at special parts of it, 
according to the measure of exercise to which such parts 
have been subjected. 

So many instances of this kind have been collected by 
the late Mr. Deville that it would be stretching incre- 
dulity to an unreasonable extent to disbelieve the fact. 
And seeing it to be true, can there be anything more 



572 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

certain than this, namely, that Phrenology, so far from 
encouraging a belief in Fatalism, should be deemed the 
surest, because it affords the most palpable, evidence 
against its unconditional existence. 

It is fated then that much improvement can be wrought 
in the faculties which we inherit from our parents, but 
it is also on the rolls of fate that few men are capable 
of becoming Fenelons or Washingtons, Cromwells or 
Napoleons. What Phrenology has done is to demonstrate 
the immediate cause of this. And should scrupulous 
churchmen still hang out the bugbear, Fatalism, to scare 
the uninitiated from their pursuit of this most useful 
science, are they not forgetful of the moral lesson con- 
veyed to his disciples by their Divine Master in the follow- 
ing parables. 

When He was desirous of making them understand that 
every one was to be held accountable for the full discharge 
of his duties, in proportion to the gifts he had received, 
without any further exaction, did He not speak the beautiful 
parable of the Talents ? And when it was His wish to shew 
them that there were some persons, in whose dispositions 
His divine injunctions would never germinate, He brought 
the fact before them, in a form almost palpable to the 
sight, by means of the picturesque allegory of the Sowers. 

Thus, it would appear, on divine authority itself, that 
not only are some individuals fitted by nature to attain to 
honours more numerous and various,' if not more valuable, 
than others can reach ; but that some are incapable of 
attaining to any, at least, that they have not within them- 
selves the power of bringing into efficient exercise the 
scanty germs of worthiness, which have, perhaps, been 
awarded them. 

With what perfect exactness these two parables accord 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 573 

In spirit and in meaning with what Phrenology teaches ! 
It teaches that no earthly power could avail to cause an 
infusion of the humane, unassuming, gentle and angelic 
attributes of Fenelon's nature into the aspiring, audacious, 
domineering, and towering spirit of Richelieu ; or the 
jealous, malignant ambition of Robespierre, or the san- 
guinary and ferocious turbulence of Marat, into the minds 
and hearts of those noble and disinterested patriots, Robert 
Lee and Stonewall Jackson. And it is so for this reason 
— that the brains of these men presented diversities of form 
which were necessarily attended by differences of dispo- 
sition, and which differences can be accurately measured 
by carefully comparing their portraits. Phrenology shews, 
also, that comprehensiveness of genius is bestowed upon 
men, not only in quantity, but also in kind. Where, for 
instance, is the earthly power that could convert a Spencer 
or a Milton into a Newton or a Descartes ? 

In the face of this striking coincidence — of this obvious 
harmony between those parables of Scripture and the 
phrenological doctrines of the dependence of diversified 
mental gifts upon special forms of the brain, how can 
scrupulous religionists assume that this noble science tends 
to subvert Christian principles ? Whereas it is evident that 
Christianity has not, in any other branch of those sciences, 
which are universally accepted, so true and convincing an 
auxiliary. For what can be more conclusively subversive 
of the opinion, that Phrenology sanctions the doctrine of 
Fatalism, than the fact, that inborn dispositions may be 
vastly changed for good by the judicious and early exercise 
of their organs in the brain ? And since exercise is accom- 
panied by growth of the organs, even in the adult periods 
of life — as has been proved through casts, taken of the 
same individuals, at various times ; and since augmented 



574 CONCLUDING CHAPTEE. 

size is accompanied by additional vigour, and as strong- 
organs find pleasure in action, it is reasonable to expect 
that the change will be durable. 

This objection, which has been so frequently and uncon- 
siderately urged as being fatal to the doctrine, that the 
brain is the organ of the mind — fatal to it, not because 
the doctrine is false, for its truthfulness is demonstrable, 
but because the friends of religion thought that it clashed 
with the Christian doctrine — is obviously untenable. It 
has no foundation in the true nature of things. 

As to the charge of materialism, so often urged against 
Phrenology, but little need be said in its refutation. For 
in the first place, it is not possible to say where, in this 
world, matter ceases to be present, although there are 
many active agents, which seem to us to be divested of 
the properties of matter. Can we, for instance, discern 
any thing material within bottles, one full of oxygen and 
another of hydrogen ? Not at all. And yet by electric 
action these invisible and seemingly immaterial gases are 
instantly changed into that most important material — * 
water. If then, water is matter, its constituents must be 
matter. Such secrets of nature are known to God alone, 
who is the author of nature ; and it is he only can be 
sensible of the refined ingredients of which the essence 
of mind is composed. 

All that we are capable of knowing is that the human 
mind does not act, at least, in this world, without a brain. 
And that Phrenology points out with truthfulness and 
precision the laws which govern its manifestations I have 
endeavoured to prove in the foregoing treatise by so 
abounding a measure of evidence as may to some appear 
superfluous. 

But man is not only a moral, religious, and animal 



CONCLUDING CHAPTEE. 575 

"being ; lie is also a highly intellectual one. Unlike 
animals, his moral nature prompts him to look forward to 
the advent of happiness, as it is calculated to affect 
himself and others. But even the highest moral qualities 
are liable to be, indirectly, the instigators of wrong, when 
the balance of the faculties is not favourably adjusted. 
For both the moral and animal faculties are blind ; and 
would instinctively and unreservedly act according to the 
suggestions of the predominant ones, were it not that 
man's superior intellect enables him to choose between 
clashing tendencies. 

And it is in proportion to the temperate and harmonious 
exercise of all the faculties that true and unalloyed 
happiness can be attained. The love of wealth and dis- 
tinction prompts a man to marry a rich old woman with 
whose habits and dispositions he cannot sympathise. If 
he be of a singularly just and generous nature he will 
act uprightly ; but he has shut the gate of happiness 
against himself. And if the lady, in her folly, happen to 
consort with an accomplished roue, she would have reason 
to mourn over the neglect and wasteful extravagance of 
her profligate partner. 

Another takes a wife for her beauty, youth, and accom- 
plishments, but she is without money and he without 
industry. In course of time they have children, with 
poverty staring them in the face. Their tempers are 
soured by constant privations, and few incentives remain 
for the display of unalloyed domestic affections. Again, 
a man may be very fortunate in the acquisition of property, 
but through an inordinate wish to accumulate more, he 
risks all upon some inviting and promising speculation, 
and becomes a beggar. 

What a comfort it is to know that persons, who are 



576 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

liable to fall into such mistakes, may be forewarned by a 
skilful phrenological reading of their characters. 

The great advantage of using Phrenology as a medium 
of choosing a profession for a youth can scarcely be 
overrated ; and the value of a practical application of it in 
directing the mode in which the education of children 
should be conducted has been already frequently alluded 
to in the course of this treatise. 

The late Sir William Ellis and his talented and excellent 
wife conducted the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum entirely on 
phrenological principles; and with the most complete 
success. So useful, indeed, did they make the poor 
inmates that almost everything necessary for the estab- 
lishment was the product of the labour of the pauper 
lunatics. These enlightened directors of this extensive 
County Asylum were enabled, through their practical 
skill in Phrenology, to choose the occupation which was 
exactly suited to the peculiar capacity of each patient ; 
and thus was the duty allotted to each accepted and 
performed as a labour of love, and not as an irksome task. 
Such labour, eagerly undertaken and heartily performed, 
excited and sustained in the minds of the patients 
pleasurable sensations and thoughts, to the exclusion of 
the insane delusions, by which they would, if left to 
themselves, be constantly harassed and rendered miserable. 
And not only was the mind tranquillized by having its 
energies habitually expended through the dominant and, 
as yet, healthy organs of the brain ; but an approach to a 
cure was being made by the inactive state in which the 
morbid portion was kept. And the fatigue, caused by 
daily agreeable occupation, was productive of sleep, by 
which the morbidly excited organs were still further 
tranquillized. In this way were cured many whose 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 577 

brains had not become disorganized by long-standing 
disease. Phrenology, also, taught them how to choose 
the lunatics to whose hands cutting instruments and other 
things, by which injury could be inflicted, might be 
intrusted. And, through its means, when they came to 
divide the patients into gangs for field labour, they knew 
bow to select those who were sure to be calm and pleased 
in performing the duty of overseers ; but who would be 
restive and turbulent as subordinates. They would not, 
for instance, place a lunatic with large Self-esteem, 
Combativeness, Destructiveness, and Firmness, and small 
Respectfulness, under the superintendence of another 
whose head was indicative of the presence of like charac- 
teristics. By this judicious and truly humane arrange- 
ment did the worthy couple restore to their homes many, 
who would, under the old inhuman treatment, of which 
the unhappy insane were so long the wretched victims, 
have remained incurably miserable. And these blessings 
were effected, while the county rates were reduced from 
14s. 6d. to 6s. Qd. a head per week. Such was the 
salutary result of the application of the principles of 
Phrenology to the treatment of the insane. 

Under the head of Self-esteem will have been seen how 
particular kinds of insanity were pointed out at Peckham 
Asylum, then under the medical direction of the late 
Dr. Uwins, from a phrenological inspection of the heads 
of patients. 

In order to acquire the best mode of training the 
youthful inmates of reformatories it is absolutely necessary 
to overseers to have a practical acquaintance with this 
science, and if they have neglected to obtain it, it is 
incumbent on them for the sake of the poor children to 
learn their moral and intellectual deficiencies through the 

R R 



578 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

advice of some one who has a thorough practical knowledge 
of the subject. For to strengthen the weak points and 
hold in abeyance those that are likely to render them 
vicious by their excessive activity will necessarily be 
more readily effected by those who comprehend them at 
a glance than by those who have to wait for their mani- 
festation. "Would it not be a satisfaction to the man of 
humanity to know that a child who has fallen into criminal 
courses was led by bad example to pursue such courses 
rather than by inherent profligacy ? For then would the 
hope of reformation be stronger ? 

In most of these children there is a great want of 
harmony in the development of the organs of the intel- 
lectual faculties. And this want is sure to be followed, 
as has been already explained, by intellectual indolence, 
or such desultory and profitless activity as will leave no 
time or inclination for industrious intellectual habits. 
This idleness affords scope for the exercise of the lower 
feelings, the organs of which, through being constantly 
active, increase in size more rapidly than those of the 
moral and intellectual faculties, the functions of which 
are in a dormant state. 

A case illustrative of the utility of this knowledge 
occurred at the gallery of the late Mr. Deville. A child 
twelve years of age was brought by her father to Deville 
for his advice. And the first remark this most acute 
practical phrenologist made greatly surprised the man. 
u Here," said Deville, " is a double character; and you 
will have great trouble in the management of it. Your 
child sometimes will act so as to raise hopes of future 
excellence, but she will again give you great unhappiness, 
without your knowing that she is the cause of it. Her 
intellect is of a superior order, but it will be sometimes 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 579 

active in devising means for gratifying her inclination 
for playing mischievous tricks, and then getting tired and 
disgusted through exhaustion of the organs, she will turn 
to the gratification of others that have, during the interval, 
been in an inactive state. The activity of her brain is so 
great that it must be judiciously restrained rather than 
encouraged with the view of exhibiting her capacity. 
Even her religious feelings, which are strong, should not 
be overwrought." 

And what were the facts of this case as described by 
the father ? For three or four weeks together this child, 
M. S., was the joy of her parents. She accompanied them 
regularly to church, where she behaved with the greatest 
decorum. And so attentive was she to the sermon that, 
on her return home, she would get upon a stool and repeat 
the sermon in the manner of the preacher. After three 
or four weeks spent in this way she made some excuse 
to avoid going to church, and appeared to be entirely 
altered in her manner. This continued for about two 
months. In the interval the most ludicrous practical 
jokes were played. Sometimes the meat for their 
Sunday's dinner would be missing from the pot when 
they expected to have it ready for dinner. But they 
could not find out the delinquent. Shortly before she was 
brought to Deville the parents were alarmed at night by 
noises, such as the shutting and opening of doors which 
were supposed to be locked, and a rattling of tables and 
chairs. At last they brought two constables to watch, 
but the marauder, whom some of the neighbours supposed 
to be superhuman, foiled even the watchers for some time. 
At length one of the men stood outside a cellar door, 
and after hearing a great uproar and pursuit, he saw that 
the door was gently opened, and then out stepped little 



580 CONCLUDING CHAPTEE. 

Mary, laughing at the consternation she was causing. 
She then acknowledged that she was the cause of all the 
annoyances they had suffered, but that she would never 
act so again. At this time she was on the point of 
returning to her good habits, and it was fortunate that 
Deville's advice could be advantageously followed, for 
after this she was never allowed to exhaust the energies 
of any set of organs by exercising them too long and 
too energetically, but she was induced to pay particular 
attention to the culture of the moral and intellectual 
faculties. 

These injunctions were steadily followed by this child, 
and the result, as to the growth of the head, was very 
remarkable. For, on comparing a cast of her head, 
taken at this period by Deville, with one which he took 
of her three years after, there was found to be an increase, 
from the opening of the ear to the surface of the head, of 
three-eighths of an inch in the size of the moral and 
intellectual regions, while the region of the animal pro- 
pensities remained stationary. There was another in- 
stance in that collection of growth of the head, between 
the ages of thirteen and sixteen, which was accompanied 
by as great a reformation of character. 

There cannot surely be a more direct and palpable 
proof of any truth in nature than the remarkable case 
which has just been narrated presents of the infinite 
value of Phrenology in giving a right direction to the 
education of the mental faculties, especially during the 
period of youth. And even in the more advanced stages 
of life there is abundant evidence to shew that changes 
for the better have taken place in the form of the head, 
when the conduct had been habitually amended. And, 
when the intellectual energies have had their full scope 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 581 

in the right direction, great changes of form have taken 
place in the forehead. 

It is not wise, then, to suppose that the time can with 
certainty be pointed out when the reformatory process of 
education ceases to have a salutary effect, if there be a 
tolerable receptacle for the inculcation of moral principles. 
But, unfortunately, there are some criminals whose animal 
propensities are so overpowering, while they seem to be 
incapable of understanding what the moral sense means, 
that little hope of their reformation can be entertained. 
Steventon, who murdered a poor old woman on the high 
road, near Hereford, and robbed her of tenpence, had the 
folly to tell what he had done, and was of course arrested, 
but not before he had made a desperate effort to kill the 
constable. Morally this man was almost an idiot, intel- 
lectually he was very little above that state. And the 
great absolute and relative smallness of the moral and 
reflective regions of the head corresponds exactly with his 
dishonesty and cruel ferocity. 

But, when we consider the rapid growth of the brain 
during the season of childhood, it is not perhaps out of 
the sphere of possibilities that even this wretched man, 
were he subjected to such discipline as would ensure the 
action of the organs of the moral sentiments, to the care- 
ful exclusion of everything that would tend to awaken his 
predominant animal propensities, might thereby be ren- 
dered less liable to be goaded on to the destruction of a 
helpless fellow-creature by his covetous and sanguinary 
instincts ; although a being, with such a brain as hi s, 
could never be brought to be a " law unto himself." 
Such a man was, indeed, through deficiency of moral 
sense and absence, to an extraordinary extent, of reflective 
power, unfit to be at large. And so near was his approacli 



582 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

to idiotcy, both morally and intellectually, that he could 
hardly be said to be responsible for his own actions. But 
when we see a man like Williams, who murdered the 
poor little Italian boy, in order to sell his body to the 
anatomists, we have not the same scruples with respect to 
his responsibility for his diabolical crimes. For he was 
endowed with circumspection and forethought in a higher 
measure than most of his class, and knew, though he may 
not have felt, that he was about to commit a crime of the 
most direful description. But though he was an artful, 
cautious, designing villain, he was not without the power 
of judging between what is right and wrong, as it has 
been laid down by the laws and customs of society. The 
wretched Steventon had less power to control himself. 
Rush again was endowed with higher powers of mind in 
every way than either of these, but the terrible impetu- 
osity of his passions hurried him on to his well-deserved 
ignominious fate. But his superior endowments as com- 
pared with the other two, increased his responsibility for 
the crimes he committed. 

Ascending in the scale we come to the unfortunate 
victim of gaming and bad company, John Thurtell, 
who possessed generous impulses and instincts, to which 
Rush and the other two were utter strangers, and his- 
responsibilities were, therefore, multiplied. He was not 
the good and faithful steward of those qualities which, 
under better auspices, might have steered him safely, 
notwithstanding the violence of his passions and his weak 
sense of justice, over the pitfalls by which he was fatally 
engulfed. A comparison of the casts of the heads of these 
men affords a satisfactory explanation of the gradations 
of their guilty dispositions. 

The question of responsibility has with respect to 



CONCLUDING CHAPTEE. 583 

criminals been treated in a most able manner by Mr. 
Marmaduke B. Sampson, in his Letters on Criminal 
Jurisprudence, Considered in Relation to the Physiology 
of the Brain, first published in the Spectator newspaper, 
and since reprinted several times. 

The value of the practical application of this science 
;to the classification of criminals was demonstrated by 
Mr. Deville in the year 1826, on board the convict ship 
" England," bound for Sydney with one hundred and 
forty-eight convicts. The examination was made at the 
suggestion of the eminent surgeon, Mr. "Wardrop, who 
did not hesitate to avow his accession to the ranks of 
the disciples of Gall and Spurzheim, at a time when most 
of his medical brethren spurned it as the offspring of' 
ignorance and quackery. 

The result of this examination is given in a letter from 
the surgeon of the ship " England " to Mr. Wardrop. 
" Observe," says Mr. Thompson, " how Deville has hit 
off the real character of Hughes, and I will be grateful 
-to Deville all my life ; for his report enabled me to shut 
up the malcontents, and arrive here not a head minus, 
which, without his report, it is more than probable I should 
have been." This Hughes was noted down by Deville as 
a man capable of deep-laid plots and ruthless murder. 
For, when Dr. Thompson said to Deville, "There is one 
in particular that you have not given me the name of," 
" It is," said Deville, " a man of the name of Hughes ; 
he is a man of talent, and the greatest scoundrel on board 
the ship, and he will do you great mischief on the voyage. 
Keep pens, ink, and paper from him, for he is a man who 
will be most likely to create a mutiny amongst the 
-convicts." " Now it appears," says Deville in a lecture, 
" that this Hughes made ink with oxide of iron, with 



584 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

which he wrote letters on tobacco papers. These 
papers," he continues, " were preserved and shewn to 
me. And there is now preserved at Somerset House an 
account of this transaction." Deville said also, "that a 
gentleman who was at Sydney when the ship arrived 
told him that he afterwards saw Hughes tried at Sydney 
for some crime for which he was hung." " All the, 
authorities here" (Sydney), says Mr. Thompson in his 
letter, " have become phrenologists, and I cannot get my 
journals out of their offices until they have perused and 
re-perused Deville's report." 

The pains and penalties which such criminals bring 
down upon themselves might, naturally, be supposed by 
the upright and foreseeing to constitute valid checks 
to restrain their animal propensities. But, unfortunately, 
such is not the case. It is on early training and educa- 
tion, then, that our hopes of improvement must rest. 
And, as children are very imitative, good example should 
be the chief ingredient in every system of tuition. 
And, to use the words of Burke, " Is, then, example 
nothing ? It is everything. Example is the school of 
mankind, and they will learn at no other." 

In the conduct of education then ; in the choice of 
professions ; in the management of the insane ; in prison 
discipline and in criminal jurisprudence, Phrenology is 
capable of producing the most happy results, in regard 
to the welfare of individuals and of communities. Nor is 
there a follower of any art or profession that would not 
be benefitted by the careful study of its principles. By 
no other means can the secret springs of human conduct 
be so readily or so surely fathomed as by those which a 
thorough practical knowledge of this much abused and 
greatly neglected science affords — means, the understand- 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 585 

ing of which is not beyond the range of moderate 
intellectual comprehensiveness. But Phrenology, for 
having demonstrated the various degrees of power 
possessed by men of resisting evil, has been thought by 
some to militate against the existence of Free Agency. 
But man's capacity for avoiding evil, even under strong 
temptation, is a fact which is known and felt by all well- 
organized persons. What Phrenology tends to shew is 
this — that some persons are endowed with very little free 
agency ; that others, after a painful clashing of motives, 
are free to resist impulses, which would lead to present 
gratification, but would be followed by future heart- 
burnings to themselves and others ; and that, 'again, there 
are persons, so happily constituted — in whom all the 
highest attributes of human nature are so harmoniously 
blended and so nicely balanced, that their career through 
life is a glory to themselves, and the fruitful means of 
happiness to others. It is no heresy to say that such 
noble characters have a greater amount of free agency 
for good than either of the other two. 

To exemplify this it is enough to mention the names of 
Steventon and Greenacre, as belonging to the first 
category, and those of Fenelon, Washington, and Sir 
Thomas Moore as bright ornaments of the last. Why 
this disparity should exist to plague and puzzle society 
can only be known to the omniscient Creator of all. To 
solve the mystery is beyond the limited reach of human 
understanding. And here again Phrenology is in har- 
mony with Holy Writ. " Nay, but, man," says the 
Apostle, ' ' who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall 
the thing formed say to the thing that formed it, why hast 
thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over 



586 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto 
honour and another unto dishonour." 

Phrenology teaches that, according to the laws of 
nature, which is itself but an emanation from God, the 
" vessels of honour " will be multiplied on earth, and 
those of dishonour cease, in a great measure, to be re- 
produced, provided mankind uses the mental faculties 
bestowed upon them by their Creator temperately and 
harmoniously. For even the faculties, that are, if^ left to 
themselves, prone to fall into evil courses, are harbingers 
of blessings, whenever they are guided by the qualities of 
mercy, and righteousness, and wisdom. But should Self- 
ishness gain the ascendant, never can we expect to see 
overreaching dishonesty and dissimulation, and all the 
fertile causes of war, swept away from the face of the earth. 
But such a termination as the last cannot fall within the 
design of a beneficent Creator. 





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